


A Fight to Find the Saiyan Honor

by Luislass



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: F/M, universe 6 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-09 06:25:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 62,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18632632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luislass/pseuds/Luislass
Summary: The tournament of Power is over, but Cabba have a new purpose to fight. A new force threats his home, even the entire sixth universe. He will have to learn how to balance his chase for power and love. While a new friend will enter his life, changing everything for the ace of Sadala's Elite Defense Force. (Cabba xCaulifla) (Kale x OC).





	1. Chapter 1 - A normal Life

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.
> 
> Author Notes: This is a story I published on FanFiction some time ago and I will be publishing it here too. I may take some time to put every chapter in here (I need to proof read the whole thing again ;D), But I hope you guys enjoy this story I made.

 

                                                                                           **Chapter 1 - A Normal Life**

* * *

‘Finally, my work for today is done’ Cabba thought to himself while flying his spaceship after a day of fighting crazy rogue robot in another planet.

A little more of three weeks has passed since the tournament of power, such a big event with the destiny of his universe on the line, Cabba fought with everything thing that he had, but it was not enough. They lost and the sixth universe disappeared with all of them.

“But you kept your promise with me, master.” He remembered the day they reappeared on Champa’s temple.

For Cabba that was one busy and stressful day, but now he is back on duty as a member of the Sadala Defense Force, and it seems that the universe is never going to run out of bad guys causing troubles.

‘I hoped they would give me at least a month of vacation, that way I could spend more time with her.’ Cabba cheeks are burning red with just the thoughts of Caulifla and the couple days they were together training to achieve Super Saiyan 3, the new transformation never came for either of them, but their time together was very special for him.

 

* * *

**_~Flashback~_**  

_“Argh… Why can’t we transform into Super Saiyan 3?” Caulifla started to complain, exhausted and furious for not be able to surpass her limits. “Cabba, do you feel anything different?” She glared at the boy, who was lying down on the ground._

_“Not a thing, just reaaally tired.” He answered panting and sweating._

_“What about you, Kale?” Caulifla turned her head to the other girl, who looked more tired than the others._

_“Sorry, Sis.” She said with a low and timid voice._

_“Forget it, this is stupid.” The spiky-haired girl pouted with arms crossed and quickly sat on the ground._

_For more than ten days they trained and sparred together, and the lack of change was starting to get the Saiyan girl temper._

_“I am starving and this is not getting us nowhere.” Caulifla jump off the ground and stood up. “Let’s go home Kale”_

_“Sure, sis.” The other girl followed Caulifla swiftly._

_For a moment Cabba lifted his hands towards the girls, but give up before saying anything. He wanted to be with them a little bit more, especially with Caulifla, but he couldn’t say that. He was brave enough to fight any enemy, and yet he did not have the courage to ask for her to stay._

_“Do you want to come with us?” Caulifla voice startled him a little and made Cabba look at her again, her dark and beautiful eyes stared at him curiously._

_This was the first time that she asked him to come with them to her house. Cabba at first didn’t know what to do, his heart was beating so fast that he was afraid it would jump out of his chest._

_“Can I?”  He asked, not really sure of Caulifla’s invite._

_“Of course, it is a lot more fun when you are with us.” She smiled and extended her right hand to him._

_Cabbe reached for her hand with a big smile on his lips._

_That night his mother scolded him for getting home so late, but he didn’t mind, he was so happy. The dinner at Caulifla’s home was simple but the atmosphere was so warm and cheerful, it was the only place that he wanted to be._

 

* * *

 

“Hey Cabba, good work out there today” A Saiyan soldier welcome Cabba, who has just landed with his ship.

“Thanks, Mr. Beano.” Cabba smiled cheerfully at the man.

“And you did get back a lot earlier than I expected, do you want to grab dinner together?”

“Sorry sir, but I just wanna go home for now.”

 The older soldier looked at little disappointed at Cabba’s refusal but smiled at him anyway. “Don’t worry boy, another day we can go.”

“Really sorry, sir. But I promise next time we can go and it will be my treat. “

“I gonna hold your word on that.” The man smiled more happily at the young Saiyan.

Seeing his companion not feeling so dejected, was a relief to Cabba and after waving at him one last time, he took off to the sky, flying to his home.

 

* * *

 

“Yo, Cabba!” Cabba was surprised and confused, looking at the spiky-haired girl sitting at his table with his parents and his little brother.

“H-Hi… Caulifla?” His eyes were stuck at that sight, Caulifla was stuffing her mouth with food, like she as part of the family. His parents don’t seem to mind the girl; in reality, they have been shooting some teasing smiles at Cabba ever since he has entered the kitchen.

“Hi Bro!” Cabba little brother jumped at him, bashing his head at his brother's stomach.

“Hey Lettu, missed me?” Cabba picked the little boy up in his arms, not minding the blow he received on his belly.

“A lot!” The little boy said firmly while hugging his brother’s neck. “What kind of bad guy did you beat today?”

  “It was a giant robot, and the thing was immune to ki blast.” Cabba said, placing Lettu on the ground.

“Woah! Soo cool.” The boy’s eyes are shining with wonder, imagining his older brother fighting a colossal robot, in his mind the bad guy was a lot bigger than what really happened. “How did you defeat it? Did you destroy it? How big was it?” Lettu started jumping around Cabba.

“Lettu, go wash your mouth, and let your brother get some rest.” Cabba’s mother complained at the little guy non-stop questioning.

“Later on, I will tell you, ok?” Cabba gave his brother a little pat on the head and send him to the bathroom.

“It sure seems cool, fighting a giant robot.” Caulifla said smiling at Cabba. “And one immune to ki blast, that sounds like a tough challenge.”

“More like annoying, my fists are all sore because of that fight.” He showed the marks and bruises com his fingers to her.

“I would like to fight some strong guys like you been doing” Caulifla daydreamed with a fork in her mouth.

“Then join the Defense Force with me, we can fight all sorts of opponents out there.” Cabba said hoping that she would be persuaded.

“Pass.” She looked not interested “You know that I don’t like those guys at the defense force.” Cabba sure knows that, but it did not keep him from feeling a little hurt.

 “Dear, can you help me move some furniture at the bedroom?” Cabba’s mother said, calling her husband.

“With pleasure love.” Cabba’s father got up from the chair, giving him a coy smile and lifting his left thumb up.

Soon enough both of them were gone, leaving the young Saiyans by themselves.

‘I can’t believe them… that was so obvious, there is no way that she is not feeling uncomfortable now.’ But to Cabba surprise, Caulifla did not change her expression, she just continued eating her dinner, as nothing has happened.

“S-So, Caulifla… What brings you here today?” Cabba asked, smiling a little tremulous.

“It has been some days since I saw your face, I kinda missed seeing it and then a came here.” Cabba was not really sure what he just heard, but his face color turned into a bright red like he was becoming tomato-man. “What? You gotta problem with that?” She continued, noticing Cabba strange behavior.

“No! Not at all” Cabba sat down on a chair beside Caulifla on the table. ‘How can I have a problem it that? I am so happy right now, but it’s not like I can say this to her… Why I am such a coward?’

 “You know, I finally got to transform into Super Saiyan 3.” Caulifla said like it was nothing of importance.

“What?!” Cabba jumped off his seat and fell straight to the floor. “How did that happen?”

The girl looked at him with a serious expression on her face, but it quickly turned into laughter, her voice was so loud that everyone in the house heard it.

“I am kidding.” She said, showing her tongue to him. “Still no progress on my part.”

“My heart almost stopped for a minute there, you can’t joke with these things.” Cabba slowly helped himself back to the chair.

“Scared that I would leave you behind?” Caulifla joked again, pushing Cabba softly on his left shoulder.

He didn’t answer, much to Caulifla surprise, Cabba just stared at the plates of food on the table, without saying a word.  In his head, the thought of her leaving him behind was scary and painful. ‘She did come after me just to achieve Super Saiyan 3, right?’ Cabba clenched his fists at the idea of her leaving. ‘What will happen after that?’.

Caulifla got up from her chair and stared at Cabba’s back, without knowing what to say, she just gave him a little bump on the head, making him turn his head to her.

“Would you leave me behind, if you get to transform into Super Saiyan 3 before me?” She asked, her bright black eyes staring at Cabba.

“No! Never…”

Caulifla gave him a bright and warm smile, showing him that he didn’t need to worry, she is not going anywhere without him. ‘She is so pretty, I could stay here all day long looking at her… If I said something… maybe.’ Cabba got up of his chair, getting close enough to her, that he began to feel her breathing.

“Caulifla, I-“

“Brother… Can you tell me a bedtime story?” Lettu entered the kitchen, stopping Cabba before he could say what he wanted.

“Lettu… Ok, just go to your bedroom, I will be right there.” Cabba was disappointed with the interference, but he could not stay mad with his little brother. He loved him too much for that to happen.

“Going to sleep already little guy?” Caulifla crouched next to Lettu, stroking his hair with her hands. “I guess is time for me to leave.”

“Caulifla, wait…” Cabba grabbed her hand, stopping her before she could leave. “I… will go with you”

“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.” She pulled her hand away from his grasp, much to Cabba surprise e disappointment. “Will I see you tomorrow?” Caulifla asked, putting one of her hands on his shoulders.

“I am sorry, but tomorrow, I have a really important mission, you see, king Sadala himself requested me to do it.”

Caulifla gave him a disappointed frown, but it did not take long, for her to smile again. “So I guess, I have to come to your house at night again.”

“You are welcomed any time, my dear” Cabba’s mom showed up from across the hall, with a motherly smile.

“Ha-ha! See you guys tomorrow then.” Caulifla waved at them and before long she closed the entry door behind her.

“I like her” Cabba’s mother stared at him with a mischievously smile on her face.

“It’s not like that mom” Cabba sighed at his mother’s words. ‘It’s not like that yet… I hope’.

His father suddenly appeared in the kitchen beside his mom, the pair laughing at their child blushing face.

“Wait, mom, don’t take the food out. I haven’t even eaten anything yet.” Cabba said in horror, imagining have to go to bed without eating dinner.

 

* * *

 

Cabba is nervous, it’s the first time that King Sadala asked especially for him. ‘What will the king ask me to do?’ Cabba is alone in the throne room, waiting for the king, the deafening silence just makes him even more stressed.

“I see that you have arrived early” A deep voice catch Cabba attention, as a tall man entered the throne room from one of the back doors. Behind the imposing man, there is a second one, not as tall like the first, but he is taller than Cabba.

“Your majesty, it’s an honor to serve you” Cabba bowed with respect in front of King Sadala.

“I appreciate your words, but let’s leave the formalities out for now, the time is short and your task has some urgency to it.” The king’s voice echoed through the room, it was both frightening and amazing at the same time.

“As you command my king.” Cabba stood up to his feet once again. “What is my mission?”

“Various planets started to ask for help, all at once in a far corner of a galaxy. But as quickly the requests have come, they soon disappeared just as fast.”

As the king continued to explain, Cabba could not hide his shock, hearing the events that unfold with a simple day time. Communications between dozens of worlds simply disappeared within hours of difference, whatever is happening over there, Cabba knew that it is bad and serious.

“I cannot send an entire battalion over there just because of a faint suspicion and having nothing to prove it, and yet, I will not send a small group with the risk of losing them.” The King walked towards Cabba and placed his right hand over his left shoulder. “That’s is why I am sending you. The ace of our elite defense force.”

“I will do everything in my power to discover who is behind this incident. You have my word on it, your majesty.” Cabba saluted his king and was prepared to leave, but before he could, the king coughed briefly, getting Cabba’s attention.

“I would also like that you take my son with you.” King Sadala said, pushing his son to his front. “Asparus, it is finally time for you to prove your worth as a Saiyan.”

The young Saiyan prince just sighed at his father’s words, much to the king disdain. The Prince of Sadala planet seems like the arrogant type, quiet and always looking at Cabba like he is far inferior. But with a quick glance, Cabba could tell that the man is not a fighter, at least not a good one.

 “It will be my honor, your majesty.” Cabba turned his gaze to the prince who still stands beside his father. “My prince, come with me. I will show the way to my spaceship.”

The little trip between the palace and the spaceport was short and quiet, the prince walked a little far behind Cabba, the others Saiyans staring as the two passed in front of them. Cabba felt a bit uncomfortable being in the receiving end of those gazes and gossips, but it was expected, his companion being the prince of their race and all.

 

* * *

 

“Soo, this ship is your ship? is not very big, is it?” The prince commented, again for the fourth time.

“I am sorry, your highness, but this the standard spaceship for the members of the Defense Force.” Cabba was getting tired of explaining the same thing for the prince over and over again. But he did not want to be rude with his prince, so he just let it pass.

“You know, my father talked a lot about you, it was like he as talking about his own son.” The prince fell silent for a couple of seconds and then turned his head to face Cabba “But that can be right. You see, I am his son and yet he does not find the time to talk to me.”

Cabba didn’t know what to say, well, what could he say. That was a problem between the prince and his father. And yet he put himself in Asparus place, what if his father and mother did not talk to him, that would be way too lonely for him to handle.

“I am sure that King Sadala is just busy all the time, he is the king after all.” Cabba tried to comfort the prince, but the young man did not seem pleased.

“Whatever, I just need to prove to him, that I am stronger than him.” Asparus laid back on his seat “Maybe I am stronger than you.”

“I am glad to say, that your opportunity to prove yourself has arrived” Cabba pointed at the console of his ship. “We are here, Udim, one of the planets that asked for help.”

Cabba’s ship quickly landed on the surface of the planet, when both of them left their vessel a grim reality welcomed them. All the buildings were destroyed, dead bodies all scattered on the streets. Whatever happened here was way more serious than the king expected to be.

“What…. What happened here?” The prince was afraid, he was shaking and sweating, the sight of dead people did get to him, more than it affected Cabba.

“I don’t know, but… Hey, do you feel that?” Cabba turned his head towards all the sides of the destroyed city.

“Feel what?” Asparus looked confused and afraid.

“Ki, a lot of them… Malicious Ki” A drop of sweat fell from Cabba’s forehead.

“W-what? Where?” The Saiyan prince froze in place and stared at Cabba.

“Here…” Cabba clenched his fists and assumed a battle position.

Suddenly various shade figures jumped out of the debris, surrounding the two Saiyans. The face of those men was pure evil, they laughed as they trampled the dead bodies with scorn.

“The master said, that no one should be left alive, right?” One of the strangers said with joy in his voice.

“He sure did, and these two still being alive puts a problem on our hands.” Another one jumped towards Cabba, landing a couple of feet away from him.

“I will charge ahead, you cover me, ok?” Cabba jumped in front of the prince and charged at the men, without waiting for Asparus response.

Cabba punched one of the strangers on the face, sending him flying towards a fallen building, the others swiftly attacked him. One after one, they keep falling with the strength of Cabba’s strikes. Three of these warriors united to fire a powerful energy blast at the young Saiyan. The beams of light merged together growing in size and speed, flying towards Cabba.

“Galick-Ho!” Cabba unleashed his most powerful technique, without holding back, he fired back at the energy blast coming for him.

With a simple touch of the two streams of light, Cabba’s Galick-Ho destroyed the attacker's technique, but his own ki blast did not stop, it kept flying at them, going way to fast, and before they could evade for the sides, the purple ki blast engulfed all three of them. When the light faded those men were nowhere in sight.

‘Amazing…” The prince thought to himself, seeing the strength of his Saiyan companion.

Cabba is way stronger than them, one after another, they fell before his strikes. Before long, all the enemies were dead or out of combat.

“Prince Asparus, are you all right?”  Cabba landed next to the Saiyan prince. He seemed a little tired but composed enough to reassure his prince.

“Y-yeah… Sorry I did’nt-“

“Hooh… Look who I just found.” A voice cut in, out of nowhere.

Cabba’s body froze when he heard the voice. This voice, he would never forget, it is the cause of a lot of his nightmares. So evil and cold, the voice that one time threatened the life of his friends.

“It Sure has been some time, wasn’t? Little Saiyan monkey.”

“Freeza!” Cabba transformed into Super Saiyan 2 and jumped in front of Asparus.

Without a second thought, Freeza fired his energy laser through Cabba’s left shoulder. The Saiyan grunted in pain as his body arched forward.

“Asparus! Take the ship and flee.” Cabba screamed as he took off, flying towards Freeza.

“Ohoho. The little monkey still wants to play after getting hit by my laser beam.” Freeza laughed firing more beams in one brutal sequence.

However, Cabba dodged all of them, flying even faster at his enemy. In an instant, they were locked in a fierce battle, with Freeza clearly being the one in advantage.

“Asparus, NOW!” Cabba yelled at the Saiyan prince once again, but this time the young man complied to his orders and rushed towards the spaceship.

“No, you will not” Freeza prepared to fire an enormous ki blast towards the ship.

“I am your opponent, FREEZA!” Cabba punched Freeza directly in his right eye, staggering him and dispersing the gigantic ball of ki.

“You damned filthy MONKEY.” Freeza lost his cool, and completely ignored the ship, locking his gaze at Cabba.

Once again, they started to trade punch at each other, during this little time that Cabba created, the Saiyan prince took off the planet using Cabba’s ship.

“I am sorry Cabba… I am weak…” Asparus pressed his face against the ship console, biting his lower lip some blood slipping from the corner of his mouth.

 

* * *

 

P.S: Feel free to leave your thoughts. I really appreciate it and I will be reading every comment. 


	2. Chapter 2 - Cabba's rescue team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.

“Hey Lettu, what are you doing out here alone?” Caulifla landed outside of Cabba’s house and immediately noticed his younger brother, sitting all by himself with his back leaning on the door.

“Mom said to me, that I should wait here while she talks to the fancy man.” Lettu is behaving a little odd, Caulifla could see that the boy was feeling down.

Yesterday Lettu was so full of energy and happiness, that seeing him like this is breaking Caulifla heart. She sat down beside him and put her left hand on his head.

“So, why are you sad? Is this guy a bad person?” She nuzzled his hair, putting a smile on the boy’s lips.

“Dunno. But the other man with him is using the same uniform as big brother.” He flinched closer to her “Did something happened to big brother?”

Lettu’s words pierced through her ears, making Caulifla drop a cold sweat. ‘Has been at least two days since Cabba has left for his mission and is yet to come back… did something happened to him?’ Caulifla bit her lips at the thought, Cabba could not be dead, nobody can defeat him, except for her of course. but yet, she cannot help but have a bad feeling about this.

“Arrrgh, come Lettu. We are not gonna find anything out here.” Caulifla stood up so fast that startled the little boy, who was leaning on her and fell to the side.

“But mom said.”

“Don’t worry about that, you are with me.” She smiled at him, as she crouched to grab his hand. “You want to hear about Cabba, right?”

“I do!” Lettu jumped into his feet and grabbed his friend’s hand.

Together, the two of them stormed inside the house making a huge noise as Caulifla kicked the door open. At the living room one of the men who as talking to Cabba’s mother, jumped out of the couch in surprise, while the other one just stared at the newcomers. The older woman seemed surprised by the intromission but kept looking at the cup of tea in her hands, with a saddened look on her face.

“So, what is happening here?” Caulifla asked with a loud voice, putting her hands into her waist. Letto copied her motion and posture, but a quick glare from his mother, made him run and hide behind Caulifla’s legs.

“And who would you be?” The man who had jumped off the couch asked her, with a look of disapproval on his face.

“Your Highness, I think I know who this is…” The older man stood up and walked to the side of the other one.

“Caulifla, my dear…”  The expression on Cabba’s mother face was making Caulifla even more nervous.

“Caulifla?! So this is that criminal?” The prince sounded disgusted with his discovery.

“Hey wimp, I asked, what is going on here?”  Caulifla pressed her finger on the guy’s forehead, almost pushing him backward.

“Oh no, please don’t do that.” Cabba’s mother rushed to Caulifla side pulling her away from the prince.

“Hmph… Such barbaric woman.” Asparus caressed his forehead glaring at Caulifla. “I will assume that you don't mind me telling her as well.”

“I… don’t.” The older woman said, releasing her grip on Caulifla’s arm, and taking her place again in one of the couches.

“I came here personally to report what happened on the mission that Cabba and I were assigned to do.” Asparus cleared his throat and shifted his gaze away from Caulifla. “I am sorry to say, but Cabba stayed behind so I could escape in his ship. I… Don’t think that he survived.” Asparus' composure vanished and he looked genuinely sad. “I am really sorry.”

“YOU LEFT HIM BEHIND?!” Caulifla jumped at the prince, grabbing the collar of his shirt, lifting him from the floor. “How could you… You coward!”

“M-mister Greeno… Help!” Asparus screamed while gasping for air.

“Miss Caulifla?” Lettu grabbed Caulifla’s pants, hugging with his tiny arms one of her legs. “My big brother is dead?”

With the tears starting to flow from the boy’s eyes, Caulifla lost her strength and released the prince. It was crushing her heart seeing Lettu like that, it took everything in her, to not start to cry as well.

“No, he is not” She embraced the boy, pushing his head against her chest. “I promise you, that I gonna find him.”

“My prince, we should go.” The soldier put his right hand on the prince’s shoulder. Nodding with his head, Asparus give a silent reply. Holding his head down, he started to walk towards the door, with the other man following him.

“Cabba is not dead, you hear me?” Caulifla got up and glared at the prince, which did not turn his head to her. “It doesn’t matter in what shithole you left him behind, he would never die.”

Without replying a single word, the two men exited the house, that is now in sad and profound silence.

 

* * *

A man walked in the desolated disaster that is now the cities of Udim, his cold eyes gazed upon the streets filled with dead bodies and destruction, but a single point gets his attention, a little place that is far more devastated than the rest of its surrounding.

‘Is he alive?’ The man focused his eyes in the small Saiyan body right in front of him. ‘It seems so. But what is he doing here?’

He kneeled beside the body and placed one of his hands on the chest of the young Saiyan. ‘He is breathing, faintly, but still alive.’ He observed the damage that the young man has received and it is a miracle that he is not dead. The upper part of his body armor is completely destroyed, even his blue shirt is all in shreds. An incredible amount of blood-drenched the floor beneath him. ‘what is keeping him alive?’

Holding the body in his arms, the man looked around him one more time, even for him this is a sickening sight. In an instant, the man disappeared with the young Saiyan in hands, with one last thought in his head. ‘there is no Udim anymore.’

 

* * *

“Waahh… Why can’t I take that stupid pudding out of my head?” Champa screamed as loud as he could. “It’s all Beerus’s fault and his stupid talk about pudding.”

“Is such a shame that he did not share one with it you, master Champa.” Vados smiled at Champa, annoying him even more. “Well, but that is good. You don’t want to gain more weight, right?”

“Why do you keep talking about that? The pudding that is important now!” Champa’s feet started to stomp at the ground, leaving a lot of little holes.

But before the God of destruction could continue his tantrum, someone appeared right before him, carrying someone else in their arms.

“Hey Hit, why did you take so long?” Champa returned to his normal behavior, as he saw Hit appear.

“Hmph…” Hit did not even respond Champa, he only placed the young Saiyan on the ground with some care.

“Oh my.” Vados looked a little surprised at the scene.

“What the hell?” Champa looked confused and was starting to get annoyed. “I don’t remember sending you to beat the crap out of Cabba.”

“It wasn’t me.” Hit responded in a cold manner.

“So, did you see what is wrong and who is causing trouble everywhere?” Champa got bored at Hit’s lacking social skills.

“All the planets that I could see were like a death field. The others were just outright destroyed.” Hit cleaned some blood from his coat and saw Champa staring at him, waiting for more. “Whoever did this to him, is the one causing trouble.” He pointed at Cabba lying on the ground.

“Vados, what are you waiting to fix him up?” The God of destruction complained at the angel, who was just looking at them talking.

“Waiting on your orders, master Champa” Vados giggled as she put the top of her staff close to Cabba.

“Since when did you started to wait for me to do anything?” Champa started to yell again but this time, he is even louder.

As the light of Vados’s staff began to bath Cabba’s body with light, his injuries started to heal and he began to look a lot less pale.

 

* * *

“Our play is getting old fast, little monkey.”  Freeza saw an opening in Cabba’s movement and was fast to punish it. He punched the Saiyan in the stomach, making him spit blood and lose his momentum. Whipping with his tail, Freeza hit Cabba once more, hitting his head and sending him flying towards the ground.

With his legs trembling, Cabba stood up on his feet. The amount of ki that he had left was barely enough to keep his Super Saiyan 2 transformation. Every part of his body is aching so bad, that even breathing gives him some pain.  To make matters worse, Freeza last attack hit him in his left eye, making impossible to be able to keep both of his eyes opened, because of the huge swelling that formed.

“With soft punches and blows like that, you really must be playing.” Cabba yelled at his enemy with a smile in his face. “That could not hurt even a little kid.”

“You…” Freeza’s face twitched with anger and a vein popped at his forehead. “Right now, you are reminding me of a really annoying monkey prince.” Freeza flew downwards, landing right in front of Cabba. “Maybe I should make you pay for some of the humiliation that he put me through.”

“I am getting tired of waiting for you, Freeza.” Cabba smirked at the merciless killer, much to Freeza irritation.

“Shut up!” Freeza shrieked, firing a laser beam at Cabba. “Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!” He kept firing without stop, hitting Cabba with a powerful barrage of beams, until he was out of breath.

When the smoke started to clear out, Freeza became even more furious, his eyes focused on Cabba, who was still standing up and glaring at him with his eye, defying Freeza and his attacks.

“I had enough of this!” Freeza flew off towards the sky and with a sudden movement, he turned his body at Cabba’s direction. “It’s about time that I exterminate you, like the pest you are.” Pointing his finger up, Freeza created a small glowing red orb of energy, the ball grew in size fast, so did the monster laughter.

“Disappear, Monkey scum.” Freeza threw the gigantic ball in Cabba’s direction, laughing maniacally.

“I will not surrender, not this time!” Cabba positioned both of his hands to his side, close to his head and started to gather his Ki there. ‘Master, I hope this works.’ “GALICK-HO!”

Cabba’s energy attack hit its target very fast, colliding with Freeza’s death ball, putting most of his energy in his Galick-ho, he began to push both Ki blasts towards his enemy. Freeza could felt his attack getting closer and closer to him. He didn’t want to believe in the strength that the Saiyan still has left, but if he continues to ignore it because of his pride, it certainly can be his doom.

“Just die already.” Freeza body flinched and his color shifted, a golden aura emerged from him, shining so bright that could blind anyone. He lifted both hands and pointed at the giant ball coming slowly to him, with a wild scream he released an intense burst of energy at his first attack. With the collision of this new force, the death ball pressed against Cabba’s Gallick-ho, and now is descending way too fast.

‘Mom, Dad, Lettu… Caulifla, I am sorry, but I don’t have the strength to keep on with him.’ Cabba pushed his hands upwards, and using the last drop of his energy, he made his attack bigger and stronger, it was enough to stop the ball a few inches from him. But being pressed from both sides with such aggressivity, the death ball became unstable and exploded, engulfing Cabba and everything around him in a violent eruption of light.

“It’s finally over, Saiyan scum.” Freeza gazed contentedly at the giant crater, after not seeing any movements or signs of the young Saiyan, he began to fly away, laughing at the grim destiny of his latest victim.

 

* * *

“Come Kale, we need to be quick.”  Caulifla whispered to her friend, who was still a couple of feet behind her.

“Sorry, sis.”  The shy girl picked up the pace of Caulifla’s steps.

The young Saiyan women crouched their way into the inner part of the Sadala Palace, walking behind the bushes and trees, taking advantage of the darkness that the night provided them.  Most of the guards didn’t even bother to look at the isolated paths when there was no one in sight.

‘Luckily for us, that these guards can’t do a proper job.’ Caulifla is amused by the incompetence of the mighty Sadala royal guard.

“Sis, where are we going?” Kale asked glancing nervously at all sides.

“I have already told you. We gonna bring Cabba back.” Caulifla is more irritated than normal, not even her can tell why, but is scaring Kale each time she leashes out her anger. “But for that, we need to steal one of those spaceships that they have.”

“Y-yeah, I understand that, but… The spaceport is in that way.” Kale pointed behind her, in the opposite direction that they are going.

“I just need to fetch another thing, before we can fly off.” Just thinking about this ‘thing’ that she needed, made Caulifla even madder. “Now, where would a coward and useless prince be?”

It did not take long before Caulifla spotted a familiar silhouette, walking slowly and without course in the gardens ahead.

“Dammit, why I am so weak… If a had the courage to fight by his side, maybe we could have defeated that monster.” Asparus stopped his rambling when he noticed two shining orbs staring at him.

“Finally, I found you.” Caulifla stuck her head through the bushes, right in front of the prince.

“Oh no, no, no, no.” The young man started to backtrack without turning his body. “HEL-.“ As he tried to scream, Caulifla’s hand slapped into his mouth, with so much strength that the clapping noise echoed through the gardens.

“I swear, if you yell again, I gonna squeeze your face so hard that your eyes are gonna pop out.” Caulifla’s threat scared the prince to the point that he almost fainted.  “I need you to show us where Cabba’s ship is.” She tightened her grip on his face. “And you gonna take us to where you left him.”

Caulifla released the prince, who immediately fell to the floor, and stared at her with disbelief.

“Are you insane? Do you want me to go back to that place?” Asparus stood up, but walked backward until his back touched a wall. “And to think that you invaded the Sadala Palace just to ask me such a stupid thing. Of course, I am not going to do that.”

“Look, buddy. You have two options here. The first one is that you just do what I told you to do, and stay the way that you are now, or.” Caulifla snapped her fingers, making a loud crackling noise. “Or you gonna do exactly what I told you to do, but with a broken nose and a lot of punches in your face.”

“Fine, no punches needed.” Asparus said with a forced smile.

“Just stop being a wimp, and let’s go.” Caulifla is not very pleased with the new companion that she got, but she knows that he is necessary for her to find Cabba.

“Stop calling me that.” The prince is annoyed at Caulifla’s words, but with one glare from her, he stopped his complains. “Whatever, let’s go already.”

Bringing the prince with them, Caulifla and Kale flew away from the palace and quickly made their way into the spaceport. Again, like the day the prince strolled here with Cabba, everyone attention was at him, but this time the soldiers were also staring at Caulifla, knowing exactly who she is. The commotion this time was even bigger, and instead of gossiping all the time, the people around them started to walk away, to not get any attention from the imposing Saiyan woman.

“This is the one.” Asparus pointed at the ship in front of them.

“So this is the one he uses, right?” Caulifla asked, with a little sadness on her voice.

“For all that I know, yes.” The prince is way too uncomfortable to pick up Caulifla’s change of behavior, but Kale did not fail to notice.

Caulifla did not wait any longer, her feet rushed their way inside Cabba’s ship, leaving both Asparus and Kale outside.

“Your friend is crazy, you know that, right?” Kale did not like the way that Asparus talked about Caulifla, and glared at him, brushing off her shyness around him for the first time. “I mean, she is rushing for her death and bringing me along, because of her boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend...?” Kale turned red as she blushed and get confused. ‘Cabba is Sis’s boyfriend?’ At first, she started to get sad at the thought, but memories of the days that she spent with Caulifla and Cabba, warmed her heart. He treated her as a friend and with even more respected that Caulifla did. Kale too wanted to bring Cabba back.

 

* * *

“Hey, for how long is he going to keep sleeping?” A voice echoed in Cabba’s head.

“I think, he is waking up, master Champa.”

“Where am I?” Cabba sat on the ground, his vision is so blurry that he can't recognize the people speaking in front of him.

“You are in my world. I think that should be obvious.” Champa sat in front of Cabba, crossing his legs.

 “Lord Champa?!” Cabba would jump in surprise if he had the strength to jump. “Am I, dead?”

“Not yet, but if I don’t like your answers, then you might be.” Champa Grinned at Cabba, who was terrified.

“Wait… Where is Freeza?” Cabba looked around trying to find his enemy.

“Freeza?” Champa and Vados spoke in unison.

“Look here boy, you have a lot to explain. And now I am even more curious, so start to talking and do it fast.” Champa pointed his index finger at Cabba. “What is going on with all those dead planets, and why are you looking for Freeza?”

“It seems you don’t need me anymore, so I am going back.” Hit walked close to Champa. “And remember, I am not your pet. Don’t keep calling me every time that something is wrong.” Without another word Hit vanished, leaving Champa with an annoyed expression.

“What a nerve that guy has.” Clicking his tongue Champa turned to face Cabba once more. “So, start talking.” The serious tone in the god of destruction’s voice, send chills to Cabba’s spine.

With a quick summary, Cabba explained everything that he knew about the incidents on those planets, and his fight with Freeza. Champa was more annoyed at the fact that someone from Beerus universe was causing trouble, than the fact that a lot of people had died.

“How the hell did that guy came here?” Champa glanced at his attendant “Vados, you don’t know anything about this, do you?”

“Oh no, master Champa. I didn’t do anything nor I know how he gets here.” Vados smiled, lifting one hand up.

“Must be Beerus fault… Again.” Champa stood up, more annoyed by the seconds. “Why the people from the seventh universe always cause trouble?”

“Lord Champa… Could I go see master Vegeta?” Cabba asked Champa with a calm voice, but his hopes of receiving a good response were not very high.

“Cabba that’s…. Excellent idea.” Champa said, much to Cabba’s surprise. “Freeza it’s their problem, so let’s have them dealing with him.”

“Well… that’s not the reason why I want to see him.” Cabba’s voice was low and timid, thanks to that, Champa did not heard him.

“It’s best to not go against master Champa’s will” Vados, who heard him, whispered to Cabba.

“So, let’s go pay a visit, to those stupid guys at the seventh universe.” Champa smiled with the excuse to go there and steal some pudding from Beerus.

 “Wait, please!” Cabba stood up and bowed to Champa. “I really want to go, but I need to go back home first. I don’t know how many days has been since I left.”

“What? First, you give me a great idea and now you want me to wait?” Champa lowered his head close to Cabba, making the Saiyan more nervous.

“I am sorry, but I really need to see my family, I couldn't leave without talking to them.” He bowed with even more fervor.

“Making me wait… Hmph.” Champa sat down crossing his arms. “Fine, but you better be ready within a few hours or I gonna just leave you behind.”

“Thank you so much.” Cabba gave the God of destruction a bright smile.

“What are you still doing here then?” Champa was not very comfortable with the demonstration of affection from the young Saiyan.

“Well, I can’t go back to Sadala… I don’t have a spaceship.” Scratching the back of his head, Cabba explained his dilemma while trying not to anger Champa.

“WHAT?!” Which did not work.

“Master Champa, we could go there with him, and while he is busy, we can enjoy some of the delicious food from Sadala.” Vados used just the right thing to calm Champa’s temper, she knows all too well how to persuade her master.

“Food, huh…” Champa gave it a nice and long thought but in the end. “I don’t see a problem with enjoying some food.” His stomach spoke louder than his anger.

 

* * *

“That is Udim, the planet where I left him.” Asparus pointed at the bigger monitor of the ship. It showed the planet right in front of them.

“What are you waiting for? Land this steel can where Cabba is.” Caulifla slapped the sidewall of the ship with her left hand.

“Wait… There is something wrong.” Asparus stopped the ship way before entering the planet’s atmosphere.

“What, what is that?” Kale spoke for the second time during their trip, surprised by a bright source of light on one extreme of the planet.

The light continued to grow more and more until it covered half of the planet. Noticing the imminent danger, Asparus turned the ship and flew away as fast as he could. In a manner of seconds, Udim exploded, sending parts of the planet to all sides of the space that surrounded it. Even after gaining some distance, the spaceship, with the three Saiyan, received a massive shockwave, making it spin without control.

“Come on… Stop spinning already, your stupid ship.” Asparus fought with the controls to stabilize the vessel but did not take long for him to assume control again, stopping its movements. “Did you two see that? How a planet blows up like that.”

“Where is Cabba?” Caulifla yelled, grabbing the monitor in front of her.

“I am sorry, but, if he was there, now he is…” Asparus stared at the image in front of him, nothing but floating rocks and planet dust, beyond it was just the nothingness of space.

“That is not true… He can’t be…” Caulifla fell into her seat, staring at her hands with tears forming in her eyes.

“Sis…” Kale felt the pain of her friend, the sight of someone strong as Caulifla crying, break Kale’s heart. The sadness overcame her as well, she covered her eyes with her hands, but the tears streamed down by her fingers.

“I going to take us back to Sadala, before anyone notices us here, okay?” The young prince was surprised to see Caulifla breaking down on tears, and yet he couldn’t say anything at her. Before he was angry enough at her, to insult her at any opportunity, but now he just felt sorry for her.

Caulifla heard the ship starting to move again, taking them back to their planet. She didn’t want to go back, not without Cabba, but her voice didn’t come out, her hands were cold and not moving even if she wanted to. She just curled on her seat, crying softly.

 

* * *

Vados, Champa, and Cabba appeared with a torrent of light, right outside of Sadala Defense Force building. Most people who were close to the landing ran away to a safe distance, only some of the soldiers walked towards the light.

 “Woah, Cabba is that you?” One of the soldiers approached the group.

“Mister Beano!” Cabba smiled with joy when he saw his friend. “I am so glad that you are here.”

“So, it is Cabba, I thought that you were dead.” Another soldier, really similar to the first one approached as well.

“Mister Greeno, with you here it is even better.” Cabba clapped his hands in contentment. “I need a favor from you guys.”

“What is it kid?” Beano grinned at Cabba.

“Could you please take lord Champa to eat?” The two brothers looked at each other, and then looked behind Cabba, where Champa and Vados are standing.

“L-lord Champa? What are you doing Cabba? Don’t throw us in this.” Greeno flinched backward at the sight of the God of destruction.

“I am sorry, it’s just for a short time. I have to do something and he wants to eat.” Cabba bowed his head in front of the two men. “I am really sorry, but it’s important.” Cabba took off before they could say no.

“So… Where are we going to eat?” Champa yawned as he walked towards Greeno and Beano. They stared at each other, scared out of their minds.

 

* * *

When the ship entered the Sadala’s sky, the sun was already coming out for the capital city. Caulifla is just staring at the windows, looking at nothing in particular as the buildings pass so fast before her eyes. Neither of the three Saiyans spoked a word the whole way back, Kale is sleeping in the back and Asparus is focused in piloting the ship.

“Wait, what is this feeling?” Caulifla lifted her head when she felt a familiar Ki.

“Isn’t that… Cabba?” Asparus put one of his fingers on the monitor. “But how?”

 Flying fast as a comet, Cabba passed by his ship. For a moment his eyes glanced at it, seeing his friends through the windows.

For this one second that Cabba was in parallel with her, it was like time had stopped for Caulifla. Her eyes locked at the sight of him and she could see the smile he was giving her, the smile that she likes so much.

“IT’S HIM!” She yelled. “Turn this and go after him.” Caulifla grabbed one of Asparus arms, making the ship swing for the sides.

“Stop that, you gonna make me crash into a house or something.” The prince did not show it, but he also is happy to see Cabba alive and well.

With all the commotion that the two are making, Kale woke up surprised and thought that Asparus made Caulifla get mad again. She walked to the front of the ship, trying to get Caulifla away from the prince.

“Kale! He is alive, I just saw him.” Caulifla hugged her friend very tightly.

“Alive? You mean…” The shy girl is shocked by her friend’s sudden hug.

“Cabba, he flew by us, just a second ago.” She released Kale from her embrace. “Why aren’t you going after him.” Asparus got yelled at again, but this time for no reason.

“I have already turned the ship. But the guy is just too fast.” He squinted his eyes and got his face close to the big monitor. “I don’t even know where he is anymore.”

“Just go to his house, he is probably going there.” Caulifla was so impatient, she wants to see him and she wants to see him right now. “Forget it, I just gonna burst the ceiling open, and fly there myself.”

“Don’t burst anything, this ship is not mine.” Asparus started to push buttons in panic. “There, just use the hatch door.”   A gush of wind rushed inside the ship, as the door in the bottom opened up.

Caulifla didn’t wait for the door to open completely, she just flew between the space that it was available. At first, she was falling in the wrong direction, with the sudden jump off the ship, she lost the notion where she was going. But with a quick spin, she turned into the right way. And after transforming into super Saiyan she flew after Cabba with incredible speed, almost bumping into the spaceship that she jumped from.

“Aren’t you going after her?” Asparus asked Kale who just stared at the open door.

She didn't answer with words, only shaking her head to the sides.

“Then sit here, it’s going to take just a few minutes until we get there.” He pointed at the seat beside him, where Caulifla was sitting before.

Kale walked her way slowly and sat beside him, but she did not look at him and only kept staring at her hands.

 

* * *

‘Finally, I am home, after so much, I just hope that everyone is okay.’ Cabba landed in front of his house, and yet he couldn’t take the steps to approach it. Maybe he is scared or maybe just now is sinking in his head, the fact that he almost died in his battle against Freeza.

 “CAAABBAAA!” Out of nowhere, he heard someone screaming his name, and in the moment that Cabba turned to see what was happening, someone crashed on top of him. The speed with Caulifla hit Cabba was so big that they created a big hole in the ground with their bodies.

“Caulifla?” His chest hurt, well, his whole body started to ache again, but more than anything, Cabba was confused and embarrassed with the scene.

“You’re back…” She held him very tight. “You’re alive.”

“Yeah… I am back.” Cabba placed his hands around her back. ‘Oh boy, I can feel her body so close to mine’.

* * *

 


	3. Chapter 3: Part 1 - A Sudden Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.
> 
> I never described how Asparus looks like and it's kind silly to discribe him now in the story, so i will do this now in the shortest way possible, so it doesn't take much space.
> 
> Asparus has a spiky upwards reddish brown hair with two bangs close to his forehead sticking out downwards in a V like shape. His eyes are sharp and somewhat large, compared to Cabba's. In contrast to his fierce glare and constant frown, his face is rather smooth and with his softer jawlines, if he would not be glaring angry at someone or something all the time, he would have a rather peaceful look. Another detail is the black cloth tape that he has across his left cheek, he uses this to cover a scar that he gained in an accident when he was a child.
> 
> His outfit is composed of a dark blue shirt and a dark green long sleeved undershirt. In his waist he wears a large dark green sash belt, his pants are made of the same fabric of his shirt, but with a slightly lighter blue color, they are long and cover all of Asparus' legs, even covering a little bit of his shoes. And for last, his shoes are very identical to the ones that Cabba uses, but with a darker purple color.

* * *

 

“I went there, to that stupid planet, but… It exploded, I thought that you were dead.” Caulifla is shaking and crying, Cabba is so confused, but he can’t stop himself from smiling seeing how much she cares about him.

“It’s okay now, I am safe and sound.” Cabba stroke Caulifla’s hair, slowly and affectionately.

She lifted her head from Cabba’s chest and locked her gaze with his. He stared at her, smiling unconsciously. ‘How can she be so beautiful.’ Cabba thought to himself. With his fingers, Cabba caressed Caulifla’s left cheek, which still is wet from her tears.  Caulifla grabbed his hand and with a swift motion, she started to kiss his fingers, making Cabba shiver with the touch of her lips.

“By the gods, what’s all this noise?” Cabba’s mother rushed out of her house, just to be surprised by the sight of the two young Saiyans in a small crater at the front yard. “Cabba!” She yelled her son’s name, and tears formed in her eyes. “You’re alive.” The woman ran towards them, at all the speed that she could.

Caulifla separated herself from Cabba, giving space to his mother, who hugged him so tight that he almost couldn’t breathe.

 “Mom… Can’t breathe.” His words didn’t affect her in the least, she just kept hugging him while sobbing.

Caulifla could hear little steps coming from the house and she knew well who that is. “Big Brother!” Letto started to scream and jump at the first sight of Cabba.  The little boy leaped on his brother and his mother, hugging both of them.

Lettu’s eyes, shining with his tears, turned to Caulifla, after he noticed she standing close to them, his lips displayed an even bigger smile. “You brought him back! Like you promised to me.”

“What did I tell you, I would find him and bring him back.” She didn’t bring Cabba back from where he was, and she too just found him outside of his house. But she couldn’t say that, she doesn’t want to disappoint Lettu.

The Saiyan child, let go of his brother's neck and jumped at Caulifla’s arms. She was surprised at first, but quickly embraced Lettu, holding him closer to her. “Thank you, Miss Caulifla.”

“I never break my promises, you know.” He is so small and warm, like a little puppy, Caulifla wants to hug him forever and take him to her house.

“Oh my… Cabba what happened to you?” Cabba’s mother noticed all the blood on his body and face, and all the damage that his body armor has suffered.

Hearing the older woman’s worried words, Caulifla turned her attention again at Cabba, and for the first time, she noticed the condition that he is in. Most of his body is covered in blood, but there is no sight of wounds or bruises.

“It is nothing mom, don’t worry about it.” There is no way that she is believing that, but Cabba lied, he never had lied to her. His mother nodded her head to him, showing that she will not continue to pry. But Caulifla noticed his lie too and she will not let that pass.

“The hell?” Caulifla put Lettu on the ground and walked closer to Cabba. “How is this nothing? You disappear for two days and when you show up, you’re all trashed up and covered in blood.”

“It’s done, I had to fight and it is over now.” Cabba is different, he never talked to her like that. Caulifla felt a little dejected, but, grew more worried because of his strange answer.

“Fight what? Who was so strong that gave you this much trouble?” Caulifla pressed on.

Cabba’s mind wandered to the events of two days ago and his fight with Freeza. He got scared thinking about what would happen if she knew about it. “It’s was my mission from the Force, don’t worry about it.” Cabba gave a cold answer, much to his immediate regret.

“You talked about the giant robot the other day, what changed now?” Caulifla stomped her foot on the ground, getting annoyed at Cabba’s attitude.

“Come Lettu, help me prepare the table for lunch.” Mother and Son walked away from the couple. Lettu didn’t want to leave, but he just followed his mother anyway.

“What is wrong with you Cabba?” Caulifla sat by his side, but he avoided her gaze.

“I’m sorry for being rude, the last two days have been really stressful.” He looked tired and stressed, Caulifla was not done talking with him, but she also didn’t want to make him feel even worse that he is now.

Both of them just stared at each other in silence, Cabba doesn’t want to talk about his mission and Caulifla will not leave him alone. But the awkward situation didn’t last long, as Cabba’s ship soon landed close to them, with Asparus and Kale disembarking from the vessel.

“Cabba, I am happy to see you well.” Asparus was not sure if he should have intervened, but Cabba seemed relieved for his intrusion. “By the looks of your clothes, I don’t know if well is the right word to use, but at least you’re alive.”

“Your Highness. I am the one who is happy that you’re safe.” Cabba eyed Kale standing beside Asparus, and this made him raise his eyebrow a little. ‘I am imagining things, or is Kale being too comfortable around him?’ he wondered quietly.

“I-I am happy to see you too.” Kale raised her voice a little and surprised Cabba with this little comment.

“Thank you, Kale. Sorry for making you guys worry, but, I am glad to be back.” Cabba shivered a little thinking that he is about to leave again, so it is like he is lying to them again. “Hold on a little, what are you doing with Kale, prince Asparus?”

“Not my choice, and not only with her.” Asparus’ expression changed from cheerful to annoyed really fast. “You see, your crazy girlfriend kidnaped me and demanded that I should guide her to Udim, in some sort of suicidal rescue attempt.”

“Girlfriend?” Cabba looked confused by Asparus words, and then the prince pointed at Caulifla, who stood up, crossed her arms and shifted her gaze away. “She is not my girlfriend! We’re not like that.” Cabba jumped from the ground landing some feet’s ahead. ‘Why does everybody keep saying things like this, she is probably going to get mad.’ Red from head to toe, Cabba turned his head to Caulifla and the angry expression on her face sent a chill down to his spine.

“Yeah, we are not like that.” Caulifla is angry, so mad that she could punch Cabba’s stupid face. ‘Why does he react so bad every time someone mentions that?’ She walked away from Cabba and grabbed one of Kale’s arms. “Let’s go Kale, we already saw him, he sure has others things to do.”

“But Sis.” Kale hesitated a bit. “Are you sure?” She looked at Cabba and then to Caulifla, not understanding too much.

“If you want to stay, be my guest. I am going home.” Caulifla released her friend’s arm and began to fly away slowly.

“Wait, I will go.” Kale waved shyly at Cabba and smiled a little to Asparus before she took off after her imposing friend.

“You know, for being strong and capable as you are, you’re surprisingly dull.” Asparus shook his head in disapproval.

“It's your fault that she left angry.” Cabba pointed one finger at his prince.

“Don’t blame that on me... Forget it. If you can’t see it, I am not going to be the one to open your eyes.” Asparus walked close to Cabba and looked serious at him again. “So, what happened there. From what I could see, you were not even close to beating that guy, and yet here you are, alive.”

Cabba responded to him with silence, his eyes were cold and serious. This reminds Asparus a little bit of his father, which made him get a little scared of the Saiyan soldier. Cabba noticed the prince discomfort and sighed deeply, taking his eyes away from the other man.

“I didn’t win. If is that what you want to know.” Cabba lifted both of his hands and stared at them shaking. “I am not strong enough, not yet. But I will finish him.”

“Finish him? What are you talking about?” Asparus only knows Cabba for a few days, but he can see that this is not his normal way of thinking. “I saw the planet explode, me and those two. We thought that you were dead. Never thought I would see that brute woman crying and yet she did just that.”

Cabba’s body twitches at Aspirus words. “What are you trying to say?”

“You intend to go after him again and alone?” Asparus is shocked at his own words, the idea that Cabba has in mind is way too wrong for him to believe. “You should tell them, at least the spiked hair one. She seems strong, she could help.”

“Did you not see what he did to that entire planet’s people, to that planet itself and all the others that he has been to?” Cabba yelled throwing his arms to the air. “He is a monster, I am not going to let him get near her… or Sadala.”

“You’re going to risk your life alone for this?” Asparus tried to raise his voice, but, failed. “You’re going to risk losing her in your life, because of your lies?”

“What are you…? I just told you the truth and you know that I am right.” Cabba eyes burned bright with anger.

“You told me the truth, but did you told her what you are going to do?” Asparus looked defeated, seeing that his words had little effect on Cabba.  “I beg your pardon for intruding, it’s not my place to tell you what to do.”

“Your Highness, don’t worry about me. I am going to defeat him, I am going to protect Sadala.” Cabba calmed himself and shared his convictions with Asparus. “Just inform the king that I am working on taking that threat down.”

“I can do that. I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your ship a little longer.” Asparus looked at Cabba one last time and saw nodding to him with a smile. “Just don’t lose yourself because of this fight. I already witnessed someone doing the same thing in the past.”

 

* * *

“I am stuffed.” Champa burped while holding his stomach with both hands. “Vados, we should come to Sadala more often.”

“I think so too, master Champa.” The angel is seated alongside her master, around one of the restaurant tables.

The place that before was full of hungry Saiyan, is now empty with only the waiters and the two Saiyan soldiers, that are paying for the food, remaining.

“It’s about time we go, don’t you think?” Champa left his seat and stretched his arms. “I am not in the mood to wait anymore, let’s go after Cabba and get out of here.”

He walked out of the building leaving both Vados and the Saiyans behind him.

“Mister soldiers, Thank you for the food and hospitality.” She soon followed her master.

“Remind me to get a punch on Cabba for that later.” Beano whispered to his brother, who as just happy to still be in one piece.

 

* * *

“Mom, I am sorry, but I need to go.” Cabba has just cleaned himself and changed his clothes to a set of new ones. He is in the front door, putting his shoes while trying to explain to his mother, why he must leave again so soon.

“You just came back, why you need to leave again?” His mother waved one wood spoon at him, with her left hand.

“Because I have to.” His answer is once again short and vague.

“And what do I tell Lettu? what do I tell her, if she comes back here?” Her last question shook Cabba’s resolve quite a bit.

“Just tell them that I am working.” Cabba sighed a bit, he stood up and embraced his mother. “My job is to protect you and everyone in Sadala, and I am going to do that.” He slipped away from her arms and walked towards the door. “I love you mom, I love all of you.”

After walking outside and closing the door behind him, Cabba noticed two presences in front of him, it alarmed him at first, but, as soon as his eyes landed on the newcomers he relaxed again.

“Are you all ready now?” Champa looked a little embarrassed since he stood a little too close to the door and heard everything.

“I am ready, sir.” Cabba nodded and bowed his head.

“Good, let’s go Vados.” Champa pulled Cabba closer to them and pointed upwards.

“Love sure is a beautiful thing, right master Champa?” Vados giggled at Cabba, who in return blushed lightly.

“You… be quiet and take us there… I don’t believe you ruined my cool stance.”

A torrent of light engulfed all three of them and as the light rushed to the skies, they all vanished with it.

 

* * *

“Where have you been?” Asparus has just entered the private quarters of the palace and was welcomed by his father’s voice, making every bone of his body shivers.

“I found Cabba today, he said that he still is working on the mission you gave him…” The prince brushed off his father’s question.

“I asked, where have you been?” The king continued, but this time, in a harsher voice.

“I was taking some time with friends.” The young prince heisted to said this, but, said it anyway.

“Friends you say.” The king stands now in front of his son, his body towering in size compared to the prince. “I have reports here stating that you were sighted with two criminals and low ones at that, to make it worse.” His words are cold and his gaze judgmental, what makes Asparus very uncomfortable.

“Why do you care?” The mood now is even worse, king Salada utterly detests his son’s attitude, and in contrast, Asparus hates the way his father sees him as nothing more than a bothersome burden.

“Why do I care?” The king snapped and punched the wall next to Asparus. “You’re weak, undisciplined, rebellious and now is trying to bring shame to our family.”

“You’re going to do what? Leave a new scar on my face?” The prince is trying to put up a strong façade, but he is scared, scared enough to make his arms tremble.

“You… Get out of my sight.” The king turned his back and walked away, because of this, Asparus could not see the hurt expression that his father has on his face. ‘Will you ever forgive me for that?’

“As you wish, father.” Soon after, Asparus stormed his way towards outside of the palace.

It only took a few minutes of walking alone, to Asparus be escorted by his trusted bodyguard and friend. Like it is magic, Greeno almost always finds out where the prince is when he is out of the palace alone.

“Something is wrong my prince?” The older man questioned, seeing the disturbed look on his master’s face.

“Just the usual, my father’s daily demonstration of love.” He said sarcastically.

“Your Highness, it would help if you didn’t provoke him every time.” Greeno is already used to the fights that father and son have, but he never grasped why the king pushes Asparus away so much.

“He only respects strength. Nothing will help improve his mood unless I stop being so weak.” Asparus turned to Greeno like he just had the best idea in the world. “Greeno, I need a favor from you.”

“I don’t think I will like this.” The soldier is worried, but he would never say no to his prince.

 

* * *

“I am stupid for being worried about him.” Caulifla is fuming since she got home, Kale is almost scared of her friend temper. “Did you see the way he denied it?”

“Denied?” Kale remembered the events of earlier in front of Cabba’s house. “So, is he your boyfriend?” She asked innocently.

Caulifla choked on her words and looked at Kale, embarrassingly. “That is not the point.” She exclaimed with a high-pitched voice. “Why does he have to deny in such way, is like he hates the thought of us… you know.”

“I think he does that to not let it bother you.” Kale fidgeted her fingers.

“But he denying it, is what bothers me, not the other stuff.” Caulifla yelled getting angry at Cabba again.

“Do you like him, sis?” Kale asked in an upfront way, surprising Caulifla.

“Of course, I like him, if not, I wouldn’t hang out with him.” Caulifla tried to brush off, but Kale continued to stare at her, making her uneasy. “I don’t know, okay? He is nice, kind and sweet. It’s always fun when I am with him. But that doesn’t mean that I love him, or his stupid cute face.”

Kale giggled and blushed at Caulifla's sudden outburst, with this it was clear as day, on how her friend feels about Cabba. Caulifla did not know that Kale could tease someone, and she is not too happy with her discovery, with her being the target of said tease. She started to yell at her friend who kept laughing at Caulifla's increasing embarrassment.

“Sis, do you hear that?” Kale asked, wiping some tears of laughter from her eyes.

“Hear what?” Caulifla who is still upset didn’t hear anything.

“Someone knocked on the door.” Kale pointed to the front door.

The spiked hair woman stomped her way to the front door and with a quick grab of the handle, opened the door with no ceremony. The last person on the planet she expected to come here, was just outside of her house.

“What do you want, wimp?” Caulifla is not in the mood to deal with the coward prince and his insults.

“How many times I told you to stop calling me that?” Asparus growled at her, angry at his new catching nickname.

“It’s best that you leave while you can. I am really want to punch someone in the face right now, and you’re making difficult to me not punch you.” She tried to close her door, but the prince stopped it with his hands.

“So why don’t you punch me?” Asparus smirked at her. “That is exactly why I am here.”

“What?” She looked creeped out and in disbelief. “Have you lost some screws in your head?”

“Before, you said that only you could defeat Cabba, right?” His black eyes shined like a bright gem. “I want to fight against you, so I can become stronger.”

“I don’t know what you’re plotting, nor do I care.” She cracked her fingers. “But if getting your ass whooped is what you want… I going to give you just that.”

“Great, come at me with everything that you got.”

 

* * *

Caulifla took Asparus to the same deserted field that she trained with Cabba and Kale. And as soon as their feet touched the ground she charged at him, not giving space for him to breath. Being fast as he is, the young man could barely evade some of her punches, before getting hit by five others in sequence. The blows to his body seemed like he was being hit by a giant hammer, making him stagger at her every move. It was less than ten minutes before the prince started to gasp for air.

“So, had enough already?” Caulifla asked making fun of him. “I can close my eyes to make it easier if you want.”

“No…” He shook his head, not because he was angry, but because something is still missing. “You can transform too right? I mean, the one with the golden hair.”

“Super Saiyan?” She snorted at him. “I don’t think you can handle that, wimp.”

“Your punches are way too light, if it continues in this way, it’s not going to be worth it.” He taunted Caulifla, not knowing how much things like this have an effect on her.

“Light you say?” Without an extra thought, Caulifla transformed into Super Saiyan, but she didn’t stop there, she went beyond, into super Saiyan 2. “Let’s see how you like my punches now.”

In a flash, Caulifla dashed at Asparus, delivering a punch on his face, with enough strength to send him flying towards some rocks way beyond where he was standing. He tried to stand up, but Caulifla appeared behind him, punching him again, but this time on his chest, sending him flying to the sky. Now with a kick, she directed him to the ground on the other side of the field.

“What do you think of my punches now?” She yelled at the prince and then landed close to him.

“Not… Bad.” Asparus once again tried to stand up, but his legs gave out, making him kneel on the ground. The blows he received from her and the impact of all his falls and collision with rocks, opened a lot of little cuts in his arms and torso. “But you said that you could defeat Cabba.” He spat out some blood that was in his mouth.

“What of it?” She didn’t like the way that he phrased it.

“You’re not even close.” The pain in his body made Asparus arch forward a little, but strangely enough, he had a smile in his face. “If this is your real power, then you stand no chance against him. I saw him fighting in Udim with a lot of enemies at the same time, even saw a little of his fight against that crazy Freeza guy, I can say for sure that he is above you.”

“What did you just said?” Caulifla pulled Asparus by the collar of his tattered shirt.

“Don’t take your frustration on me, it is just the truth. He is stronger than you.”

“Not that, you idiot, you said that he was fighting Freeza?!” Her fingers clenched even harder at the fabric, almost tearing it off.

“I remember it well. He called that white lizard guy thing, Freeza.” Asparus shivered at the memories of seeing the villain. “Cabba as shaking like a leaf at first, but he did fight head-on with this Freeza.”

Caulifla is now even more pissed than before, she feels cheated and annoyed. With a swift move from her hands, she tossed the prince to the ground, making a huge noise.

“That is why he is acting so strange.” She bit her lips in frustration and returned to normal, losing her golden aura.

“Sis, are you guys done?” Kale who was watching from afar, approached when she thought it was over.

“Kale, help this guy get on his feet and walk with him to my house.” Caulifla stared at Asparus who is lying on the ground. “If I stay too close to him right now, I might snap his neck.” Caulifla took off to her house leaving to other two behind.

“What did you say to her?” Kale asked Asparus, making an angry face at him.

Asparus was mesmerized about how cute she looks pouting like that, he slapped one of his cheeks to get his attention away from her face.  “At first, I thought it was because I said Cabba is stronger than her.” He groaned in pain trying to get on his feet. “But now, I think is because of this Freeza guy.”

“Freeza?” Kale knows who this is, but she got confused on how the prince know this name.

“The lizard Guy that Cabba was fighting on Udim.” Kale helped him stand up, putting one of his arms around her shoulders.

“Oh no…” Kale seemed frightened. “This can’t mean anything good.”

“So, you know him as well?” Asparus asked as they started to walk together.

“I-It’s a long story, but he shouldn’t be here… this is not right.” For a moment she relived in her mind, some moments of the tournament, and the unpleasant experience that was the encounter with Freeza.

“You know, even if you’re so quiet, I enjoy more talking to you than that harsh woman.” Kale frowned at him for his words about Caulifla, but yet, she couldn’t hide the little smile on her face.

In their way back, Asparus tried to make Kale tell him about their past with Freeza, but she remained quiet about it. They took their time to return to Caulifla’s house, because when she began to fly, Asparus started to groan and scream in pain, so they walked all the way back.

 

* * *

When they finally got back at Caulifla’s house, Kale helped him tend to most of his wounds, while Caulifla inquired all about the events in Udim. At first, the prince wasn’t sure he wanted to reveal something that Cabba didn’t talk about with her, but he felt that it was the right thing to do and was scared to his soul about what Caulifla would do to him if he didn’t tell her the truth.

During the story he was telling her, Caulifla expressions changed really fast, sometimes she was angry, others fascinated, then angry again. In conclusion, she decided to stay angry with Asparus for leaving his companion behind and Freeza for being a nuisance, but, got even more worried about Cabba and his lies.

 “So, he wants to take on that annoying guy, all by himself?” Caulifla stared at the water, in the cup she is holding.

“If I did understand what he was talking about. Yes, he wants to do this alone.” Asparus poked one of the bandages, that Kale wrapped around on his left arm. “Something about not letting that monster get near you.”

Caulifla felt a little bad about the way she left him behind. She is happy and at the same time annoyed, that Cabba thinks that she needs protection. She remembered what Freeza did to him on the tournament and then the way he looked earlier in his house, with is armor almost completely destroyed and his body covered in his blood.

“I will not allow this to happen again.” She clenched the cup on her hand with such strength, that it shattered in many pieces, spilling water on the floor.

“Are you going after him?” Asparus stood up, moaning in pain again.

“Damn right I going after him.” Caulifla got up from her chair and rushed towards the front door.

“Wait.” Asparus got her attention, making her stop with hands on the handle of the door. “Take me with you. I want to help as well.”

“Think you can keep up?” Caulifla glared at him, looking up and down, like measuring his condition.

“I think I can fly now… Maybe not as fast as you, but I can go.”

“Then, come if you want. Not going to stop you.” She left the house with haste, leaving the door open.

“I-I will help you.” Kale grabbed one of his arms gently.

“Thank you.” For the first time in years, Asparus blushed and didn’t have a good or clever answer.

“Where do you think she is going?” Kale closed the door behind them.

“To his house, I am sure of it.”

“Then, hold tight on me.” As soon she said this, Kale turned red in embarrassment, which made Asparus blush as well. The two of them took off after Caulifla, but with a much slower speed.

 

* * *

“Who can be now?” Cabba’s mother was surprised by a sudden knock on her door. It’s really uncommon for them to receive so many visits in one day. “Oh, hi Caulifla my dear.” Her lips parted in a smile as soon as she saw Caulifla standing outside of her door.

Caulifla tried to look past the older woman, leaning her head to the sides. “Is Cabba still here?” she looked energetic and restless as she asked.

“I’m afraid that he is not.” The woman expression turned into a mixture of disappointment and sadness. “He had to leave, said it was for work-“ Cabba’s mother suddenly jumped back as she has just seen a ghost. “Your Highness! What happened to you?”

Kale and Asparus landed close to Caulifla, much to the older woman’s surprise and disbelief at the current state of the prince.

“I beat the crap out of him.” Caulifla smiled proudly as she announced that.

“Oh no my dear, you can’t do that.” Cabba’s mother ran outside to help Asparus. “This could get you in a real problem.”

“Don’t worry about this.” Asparus tried to calm the woman down. “I asked Caulifla to fight with me. It’s not her fault.” He noticed the way Caulifla is staring inside the house like she had lost something in there. “So, Cabba is not here anymore?”

“No… He already left.” She crouched and punched a hole in the ground.

“What is wrong?” Cabba’s mother sensed the worries of the three of them, making herself worry. “It’s something wrong with Cabba again?’

“He is an idiot and is charging towards danger alone.” Caulifla clenched her fists. “Taking everything on his back and protecting people that didn’t ask for his protection.”

“I think that is enough.” Asparus interfered on her rambling, after seeing the pale look on the older woman’s face. “We should go look after him elsewhere, he still probably here in Sadala.”

“He is not.” She said with a low voice. “I tried to feel his Ki, but he is nowhere in the planet. I even tried before I got here, but still didn’t find him. I still came here, not wanting to believe that he was already gone.

The trio is once again left with no clue where to go, while Cabba’s mother is watching them, holding her apron fiercely, worried sick about her son.

Caulifla stood up, turned her face upwards to the sky and breathed slowly, cooling her head and calming her heart. “I am going to find him, and when I do. I going to beat some senses into him and put a leash on him, maybe that way he stops with the stupid idea of doing stuff alone.”

“But you can’t stop him from doing his job in the Defense Forces.” Asparus commented sarcastically.

“Then, just watch me.” She smiled cheerfully giving her answer, but for some reason, the prince doesn’t think that she is joking.

* * *

 

 


	4. Chapter 3: Part 2 - The Right Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.

 

* * *

 

"Kakarot, when are going to bring your food and stop being dependent on me?" Vegeta always ends up being the one that brings the food for Whis and Beerus, in payment for their training.

 "But you’re already bringing it, what is the matter in sharing?" Goku smiled contently with his belly full.

 "Goku is right, sharing is caring, but... You should not be petty, Goku." Beerus glared at the goofy Saiyan. "If you had brought food as well, then we would have even more delicious things to eat."

 "But Lord Beerus, Vegeta is the one with a chef in his house." Goku's goofy face combined with a fake frown, make a strange combination. Which he uses to pass on his childlike explanation. 

 "Wha- Aren't you always bragging about your wife’s cooking?" Vegeta's voice echoed far away in the plains of Beerus planet.

 "Shut up, both of you ... So annoying." Beerus yelled even louder. "I cannot believe Whis keeps training both of you in here.”

"But, Master Beerus. You said yourself, that wanted to see more of their growth." Whis let this out just to tease his master.

 "What?! I never said this. What a stupid thing to say." The God of destruction laid down on his chair, rolling to the side where the others couldn’t see his face.

“I can see your stupid face, saying stupid things.” An outsider's voice interjected, but Beerus knows all too well who this voice belongs to.

“Champa… Care to explain why are you here?”  Beerus said without turning to look at his brother.

“Oh, you know why I am here. I am here to tell you to fix your mess.” Champa tossed a rock, but missed his target, hitting the ground next do Beerus.

“What’s the problem with you?” Beerus jumped off his chair and walked straight to Champa.

“My problem is that Freeza of yours is in my universe making a mess and destroying everything that he wants.” The chubby god of Destruction pressed his index finger in Beerus forehead.

“Freeza?!” Goku and Vegeta, both jumped off the ground looking at each other.

“That is right, and I am sure that is your deed.” Champa stared at them. “Beerus probably sent him over there to piss me off.”

“Don’t you think that I have better things to do than try to piss you off?” Beerus slapped Champa’s hand away. “With the way you’re saying that it’s like I give even a single care about you.”

“Ever since the pudding, you’re always trying to piss me off. No, even before that.” Champa screams and noises are followed by Beeru’s own exalted voice. The two Gods of Destruction continues the apparent never-ending argument.

“What is this argument about Freeza?” Whis asked his sister, after approaching her.

“Some days ago, various planets started to disappear. So lord Champa grew curious about the cause.” She was talking normally, but her eyes never diverted from the fighting siblings. “He sent an agent to find out more about, but instead he brought back the nearly dead body of young Cabba here.”

Whis changed his gaze to Cabba, who is very shy about the situation. Goku started to get excited by Vados story, but Vegeta seemed more tense and overall grumpier than usual.

“So, did you saw him? Freeza?” The male angel directed his question at the young Saiyan.

“Yes, sir. At first, I encountered some low-level soldiers and dispatched them, but then Freeza showed up.” Cabba’s body stiffened for a moment. “I had to fight against him, to buy time for the prince of Sadala to escape.”

 “Did you beat Freeza?” Goku started to poke Cabba’s arms, much to Cabba embarrassment.

“Are you stupid, Kakarot?” Vegeta raised his voice and crossed his arms. “If he had beaten Freeza, they would not come here asking for us to clean this mess.”

“Master…” Cabba felt ashamed for showing up defeated in front of Vegeta.

“Did you came here to beg for help?” Vegeta glared at his pupil. “To ask someone else to fight for you?”

“No, master!” Cabba responded in an energetic way, with his eyes almost tearing up from Vegeta’s words. “I want to get stronger, I want to have the power to protect those precious to me. Please teach me, Master.  How can I become stronger?”

The frown on Vegeta’s face changed into a more proud and cheerful expression. “Kakarot, can you take us back to earth?”

“No, I can’t feel no one’s Ki from there.” Goku scratched the back of his head with one hand while holding two fingers to his forehead.

“I can take you there.” Whis summoned his staff. “Just hold on to me.”

“Thank you, Whis.” Goku put his right hand on the angel’s back, Vegeta followed him and did the same. “Come Cabba or you be left behind.”

Cabba nodded and placed himself between Goku and Vegeta, behind Whis back.

“Are sure that you going to leave them like that?” Vados pointed at Beerus and Champa.

“You’re the only one that enjoys this.” Whis smiled lightly at his sister, who in response smiled back.

With dancing white lights, Whis warped together with the three Saiyans, leaving Vados behind to tend to their masters.

“Wait, did Whis just vanished with them?” Beerus stopped his bickering with Champa for a moment, after Whis left.

“I am afraid so…” Vados looked at him. “The only thing he said, was about eating some pudding.” Her voice carried a fake worried tone.

“PUDDING?!” Both Champa and Beerus yelled together.

 

* * *

“Trunks, it’s time for lunch.” Bulma called from inside the house.

“Coming mom.” Trunks who is outside playing with Mai, yelled back and started to run towards the entrance. “Let’s go Mai, if we make mom waits too long she is going to get mad again.”

The boy grabbed hold of his friend hand, and both dashed together across the backyard. Trunks heart is racing like crazy, to him, it feels like he can fly even without using his Ki. Lost in his own mind, Trunks didn’t see the people who appeared on his path, which made him bump his head in someone’s legs.

“D-Dad?!” Trunks screamed, letting go of Mai’s hand, and throwing both arms to the air, with his face burning red. “Did you come for lunch too?” He started to kick the ground to hide his embarrassment.

“Lunch?” Whis eyes sparkled with happiness. “I am more than happy to participate.” Whis walked on his own inside the building, Trunks and Mai took advantage of this distraction and followed Whis inside, holding their heads low.

“Wait, I want to eat too.” Goku put his arms behind his head and walked inside as well.

“You, follow me” Vegeta turned away from the building that everyone entered, and with Cabba walking behind him, He entered a separated one that has his gravity training room. “So, tell me what happened between you and Freeza.”

Cabba felt his body being pushed towards the floor, soon as Vegeta turned on the gravity machine. “It was my mission to find out what problems happened on that planet.” Cabba forced his body to be straight up again. “And there we found him and his men… They enjoyed killing and destroying.”

“We?” Vegeta raised an eyebrow. “You had that Saiyan girl with you?”

“No, Caulifla don’t even know about Freeza.” Just the mention of her name was enough to bring a smile to Cabba’s lips. “The king tasked me and his son, the prince of Sadala, with this mission.”

The mention of another Saiyan prince picked Vegeta’s interest. “Before you mentioned, that you fought with Freeza for someone to escape.”

“Yes, while I was fighting, the prince escaped with my ship.”

And just as fast Vegeta’s interest vanished. “A coward Saiyan prince… What a disgrace.” He snorted at the notion of a Saiyan prince fleeing from battle.

“I don’t blame him. Anyone would flee from that monster after seeing so much death in one place.”

“You didn’t” For Cabba’s surprise, Vegeta smirked at him.

To Cabba felt like Vegeta is proud of him, what made him extremely happy, and yet a thought holds him from smiling back at his master. Cabba was also scared, he wanted to run away too. But stayed because it was his duty to protect his prince, he didn’t stay because he wanted to fight and prove himself.

“But I lost… I fought with all my strength without holding nothing back, and I lost.” His fingers let a cracking noise as he began to clench his fists tighter. “I did nothing to him, he destroyed me so easily. The only thing I was able to do, was to make him angry with insults and defiant comments.”

Cabba got startled at Vegeta’s sudden laughs, he looked at his master not understanding what was so funny. “You manage to talk trash to him while getting beat up?” The Saiyan prince seemed pleased by this fact. “I bet he was furious at the time.”

“He kept talking about a monkey prince.” Cabba could feel his master good humor diminish really fast.

“Hmph!” Vegeta snorted again, but this time he got close to Cabba and put one of his fingers up. “What I am going to tell you now, is not to leave this room. Do you understand?”

Cabba swallowed dry and nodded silently with his head.

“I know Freeza since I was a child, one of my first memories is the sight of my proud race being reduced to nothing more than lapdogs because of him.” His rubber gloves made a somewhat loud noise after he squeezed his hands together. “That monster slaved the entire Saiyan race, even its proud king. We fought for him, we killed for him, we destroyed anyone that he ordered to destroy… But in the end, he decided to betray us and destroyed our planet, taking most of the Saiyans with it.”

Cabba became horrified after hearing more of Vegeta’s past with Freeza. The thought of someone as proud as his master, serving Freeza, made him disgusted and angry.

“Master, I… I want to make him pay for what he did to you and everyone.” Cabba’s head tilted backward after Vegeta slapped him lightly, using the back of his hand.

“What, revenge?” Vegeta laughed again, but in a more serious way. “I don’t need you to avenge me or my people, my son already did that.”

“Your son?” The image of little Trunks showed in his mind, confusing him even more.

“Anyway, shouldn’t you be more worried about your present instead of my past?”  Vegeta assumed a battle stance. “Now show me, how strong you have become.”

Cabba jumped at Vegeta throwing punch after punch, his speed matched his master pace. Vegeta blocked Cabba’s strikes but felt his body being pushed back at each punch he blocked. ‘He is a lot faster than last time.’ The Saiyan prince felt a little proud of his student progress, but in the base form, It is impossible to know Cabba’s real improvement.

Vegeta grabbed Cabba’s left arm and pulled him closer, with a swift motion, he hit his opponent in the stomach with a knee, staggering Cabba for a few seconds. Vegeta used this time to circle around Cabba, delivering now a punch in his face, the force behind this blow sent Cabba’s body flying to one of the walls.

 “Show me your true power, pour your soul in this fight or I will beat you harder than Freeza did.” Vegeta powered up directly to Super Saiyan 2, making the whole room shake.

“Yes, master!” Cabba pushed himself away from the wall and transformed to Super Saiyan 2 as well.

Following Vegeta’s orders, Cabba charged at his master with all his powers. Every punch and kick he fired at Vegeta, carried a strong enough shockwave that was tearing parts of the floor and ceiling. The two Saiyans locked themselves in an intense close-range combat, trading blows and changing stances at an incredible speed. Little by little Cabba’s started to gain the edge, making his master cease his attacks and only focus on defending.

Now entirely immersed in his battle, Vegeta is starting to get annoyed at his losing position, ignoring completely the meaning of this fight.  He finally lost his temper when Cabba hit him with a kick on his ribs, making the Saiyan prince growl in pain. Before Cabba could react, Vegeta transformed into Super Saiyan Blue, smacking his fist in Cabba’s face. The punch made Cabba collide with walls again, but this time he bounced right back out, falling on the floor.

‘What an incredible amount of power… That much, only in Super Saiyan 2?’ After coming back to his senses, Vegeta was astonished by the pressure that Cabba put on him. ‘This aura around him is like...’

“Master… That was not very fair.” Cabba stood up, shaking and panting.

“Fair?!” Vegeta turned his head at Cabba, with an angry expression on his face. “Do you think that Freeza will fight a clean battle? That he will play fair?”

“I am sorry, I didn’t mean to-“ Cabba was interrupted by the sight of Vegeta elevating his Ki even more making everything tremble.

“The only thing that will matter is your strength.” He yelled punching at the air. “If you don’t stop him with your own power, he will kill you.”

“I know…” Cabba lowered his head in defeat.

“He will kill your family and take everything from you.” Vegeta continued, walking closer to Cabba, who is now kneeling down.

“…” Words couldn’t escape the young Saiyan’s mouth.

“What are you doing down there?” Vegeta’s foot stomped right in front of Cabba, exploding parts of the floor away. “If you don’t want to lose anything, stop being so weak.”

“I KNOW THAT!” Cabba’s Ki elevated in an immense amount, his golden aura enlarged its size and bright, with shining blue sparks surrounding him. His muscles increased in size, making his arms be twice as large.

“What?!” Vegeta saw the image of Cabba’s fist coming at him, but before he could deflect it, the impact in his face made his vision turn blurred and blackened.

Vegeta’s body flew across the room, clashing and bursting through the walls, tearing half of the building down.

“Just as I thought.”  Vegeta got up from the grass he had fallen on while smiling to himself.

“Master!” Cabba rushed off out the ruined gravity room, already in his normal form. “I am sorry.” He bowed his head in front of Vegeta, as he was getting his ground again.

“Hmph… We are done here, you can go and eat with the others.” Vegeta turned his back to Cabba and started to walk away, towards some other distant building. ‘Maybe this boy is a genius too.’

 

* * *

“Yo Cabba, come eat with us.” Goku, holding a piece of chicken, waved at the young Saiyan who just entered the balcony.

A giant table was placed at the outdoor place, full of all kinds of foods and beverage, around it is Bulma, Trunks, Goku, Whis, Mai, Shu, and Pilaf. All of them are enjoying their meal while chatting with one another.

“Mister Goku.” Cabba nodded a little dejected at Goku and walked towards the giant table.

“What was that wild Ki outburst just now?” Goku stopped eating for a moment and stared at Cabba.

“I was sparring with master Vegeta.” Cabba sat down in one of the chairs. “But I think that I made him angry.”

“Don’t mind that, Vegeta is angry and grumpy most of the time.” Goku laughed in a cheerful manner, lifting some of the burdens on Cabba’s shoulders.

“So, this is the boy that Vegeta talked about.” Bulma stared at Cabba from the other side of the table. “I am really curious about the Saiyan that picked Vegeta’s interest.”

Trunks, who also remembers his father sometimes talking about some pupil, looked at Cabba with curious and envious eyes.

“Cabba, where is your girlfriend?” Cabba choked with some food after hearing Goku’s question.

“She is not my girlfriend.” He again denied this fact and yet hated that is not true.

“Hm…” Goku looked confused by Cabba’s answer. “But you guys looked really close.”

“Do you like this girl?” Much to the young Saiyan’s dread, Bulma jumped in the conversation.

“I think he does.” Goku answered for him.

Cabba tried to hide his face behind his hands, blushing so hard it seemed that his head is on fire.

“He is embarrassed, so sweet.” Bulma clapped her hands together in joy. “Do you want to date her?”

‘What is this conversation? Someone please, save me.’ Cabba shrunk even more in his chair, just staring at his food.

“If you want to get her attention, you should give her a lot of different food.” Goku announced proudly.

“What? Only you to say something so stupid.” The blue haired woman slapped her face with one hand in disbelief at her friend’s comment. “Now listen here, Cabba boy. If you want to make this girl happy and get her to like you, then you have to give her the most expensive clothes and accessories. Every girl loves receiving gifts like that.”

Cabba is trying really hard to not show much interest in the conversation, but he is carefully taking mental notes from the tips that Bulma is giving him. While at the other side of the table, Trunks literally took one little notebook and a pen from his pants pockets, writing down what his mother is saying.

“Dad, did you give a lot of clothes to mom too?”  Trunks asked genuinely to his father, who just entered the balcony with a little baby in his arms. Vegeta didn’t answer, maybe because he is not sure what is happening or simply don’t want to talk about it.

“Don’t be silly Trunks, even if your father had the delicacy to do it, he doesn’t work to have any money.” Bulma giggled and stick her tongue out to her husband. “Goku, you don’t have a job too.” She juggled her words back at Goku, who was laughing more than he should.

“What about you?” Trunks pointed at Cabba. “Do you have money?”

“Back home, yeah…” Cabba’s voice faltered a little, he was not sure what kind of question was that.

“Women from your planet are so lucky… Saiyans that have a job, what a dream.” Bulma place both hands on her cheeks and daydreamed for a little bit about this idea

“You want me to go back into raiding planets?” Vegeta’s grumpy voice cut her Dreamtime short.

“No. You’re fine just being who you are right now.” She sighed deeply as her delusion fell apart. “And raiding planets is not a job.”

Today Cabba learned a new side of his master. The proud and powerful warrior that is Vegeta, is now brimming with happiness as he holds his baby daughter. The funny way that he argues with his wife, may seem a little harsh at first, but is clear as day that he loves her with all his hearth.

‘You never cease to impress me, master.’ The sight of Vegeta, Trunks, Bulma, and Bulla. All together playing with each other during their meal, made Cabba’s eyes tear up. After hearing about Vegeta’s past, Cabba is glad that his master found peace.

“What is the matter Cabba?” Goku poked Cabba’s head. “Missing your girlfriend already?”

“Hm... So you mated that brat girl?” Vegeta nodded his head in approval.

‘Good gods, not this topic again.’ After another round of tease by Goku and Bulma. Cabba was back at his shy and defensive stance, hiding his face with his hands.

Whis, who is laughing the whole time during this ordeal, shifted his attention upwards when a beam of light emerged far above their little party.

“Whis!” Beerus appeared in the sky, together with Champa and Vados. “I knew it, you sneaked away to eat without me.”

“Don’t forget about the pudding,” Champa yelled at the back.

The somewhat calm lunch that they were having, now has become a very agitated one. With Beerus yelling at his attendant, and Champa non-stop demands of pudding, made a way more lived experience than Cabba is used to, during lunch with his family.

 

* * *

“Can’t believe we come from so far and got nothing done.” Champa’s way of speaking is strangely quiet.

“Like I said before. I am not going to allow anyone to leave.” Beerus pointed at Vegeta and Goku. “Freeza is your problem now.”

Champa clicked his tongue in annoyance. “What a stingy brother I have.”

“But Lord Beerus, we can’t ignore them. And Freeza being alive is my fault.” Goku made a pleading face while trying to argue with the God of destruction.

“Shut up!” Beerus yelled. “I said no.” His answer was harsh and short.

“But, lord Beerus.”

“Shut up, Kakarot.” This time Vegeta, instead of Beerus, yelled at Goku.

“What a waste of time. Let’s go home.” Champa walked next to Vados and placed his hands on her back.

“Cabba.” Vegeta’s voice made his pupil stop and turn his head to face his master. “The strength you are looking for is already inside you.” Vegeta pointed at his own chest with his right thumb. “Just clear your head of stupid thoughts and focus in those you want to protect.”

Cabba was speechless, his only action was to bow his head deeply in respect for his teacher. Holding one last time his tears, he lifted his head and waved at everybody that is there to watch him leave. Then he placed his hand at Champa’s shoulder.

“At least you got some pudding, right? Master Champa.” Vados taunted his master a little more.

“You… Just go.” Champa didn’t have the energy to even reply to her banter, with an angry voice.

Like the previous times, the three of them disappeared inside the torrent of light and left for their own universe.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Trunks looked at his father. “Isn’t Freeza super evil and strong?”

“Hmph… If he loses to Freeza again, I will go there myself to kill his weak Saiyan ass.” He turned away from the place where Cabba left and walked inside the enormous house. ‘No pupil of mine will lose to that bastard.’

 

* * *

Inside a bubble of energy, they crossed space in complete silence, Champa seemed puzzled and was quietly thinking about something, while Cabba was reflecting on his master’s parting words.      

“Lord Champa, leave it to me.” Cabba said energetically “I will defeat him.”

Champa smiled to himself, noticing the difference in Cabba’s behavior after his encounter with Vegeta. “Sure, boy. We are counting on you.”

 


	5. Chapter 4 - Put a Leash on Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.

* * *

 

"I was hoping that we would stop closer to my house..." Cabba scratched the back of his head and complained a little when Vados landed them in a deserted area of Sadala.

"Did you say something?" Champa shot a death stare at the Saiyan.

"No sir!" Cabba's body stiffened and in an automatic reaction, he made a formal salutation.

Champa returned to his usual annoyed state as he clicked his tongue. "I swear, those Saiyans of Beerus’ universe are being a bad influence for you."

"Master Champa, we should go." Vados hit the ground twice with the base of her staff, creating another surge of light.

"Hey, Cabba!" Champa called him in a loud voice, almost yelling. "If anything happens again, you know what to do."

"Leave it to me, Lord Champa." Cabba hit his breastplate with his right hand, his response was fierce and confident.

"Then, see ya later." Champa smirked at the young warrior, satisfied with the reaction he got.

In a moment, Vados and her master vanished to another place, leaving Cabba alone in the silence to ponder about what he should do next.

* * *

 

 

"So, did you find anything?" Caulifla in exasperation asked Kale.

"Nothing…" She answered in her typical shy way.

"And you…?" Caulifla turned her attention to the prince, who was exhausted and seated down on the dirty street floor. "Can't you stop being pathetic for a single moment?"

"Can you stop being annoying in return?" Asparus hissed at her. "Anyway, I asked everywhere and nobody saw him leave through the spaceport. Are you sure that he is not in Sadala?"

"Yeah, I am sure. Dammit." Caulifla stomped the floor in anger.

The trio has been looking for clues about Cabba's whereabouts for hours, at some point, Caulifla suggested that they should go in separate ways to cover more ground, in the end, the group met again at the market square, but with no new information about Cabba. This ghost chase is driving Caulifla insane, her patience is nearly out, to the point that she doesn't care to be in the capital city of Sadala or for fact that the guards keep staring at her with questioning gazes.

"Somebody has to know where he went." Asparus said while he rose from the ground.

"He can't just vanish like that." Kale added in, nodding with her head.

"Maybe I should start to beat every soldier in here, that way he might appear." Caulifla snapped her fists making a loud crack noise.

"I don't think that-" Asparus sweat cold with her statement, not knowing if she was serious, but before he could try to calm her down, a fast movement close to him got his attention.

"Sister Caulifla!" Lettu appeared from nowhere and jumped at Caulifla's legs.

"Lettu?!" She yelped in surprise when the little boy grabbed to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Came here with dad, we are shopping." He pointed his finger at one store across the street.

"Sister Caulifla?" Asparus eyes sparkled with curiosity like he had heard the most interesting thing in the world.

"Oh, the wimp is here." Lettu waved his hands innocently at Asparus.

"By the gods, your rudeness is rubbing off to the boy." The prince threw both of his arms to the air, not amused by his now official nickname.

Didn't take long before Caulifla started to laugh loud and frantic, getting the attention of every person that is walking close to them. Lettu jumped astonished by her sudden behavior, but, even not understanding what is so funny, he copied her postured and started to laugh as well.

"So, kid. Can you explain why did you call this woman your sister?" Asparus is now even more determined to press on about this topic.

Lettu stared at the prince for a few seconds, dangling his heads to the sides. "Dad says that when miss Caulifla marries my big brother, she will be my sister too." Lettu shifted his head to her and showed a warm smile.

Caulifla choked at her laughs and turned bright red, Asparus turned his gaze to her, smirking devilishly.

"Hm… Your dad said that… curious is it not?" He giggled and then smiled, happy to have turned the tables on her.

"Shut your trap, wimp." Caulifla patted Lettu's head while blushing deeply, then she noticed Kale staring at them, in wonder. "Kale, this one is Lettu. Cabba's younger brother."

"H-hi." Kale waved with one hand at the boy. She smiled a little but then returned to blush and look to the ground.

"So cute." Lettu's eyes sparkled with awe, while his gaze is locked in Kale's way.

"WHAT?!" Asparus couldn't believe in his eyes and ears. He stared at the boy like he was staring at some thief, ready to steal something from him.

"I am happy to meet you, miss Kale." Lettu rushed to her and lifted his hands upwards.

"S-same." Kale held both of his hands and smiled even more at him.

'This boy… is he a natural or what? So dangerous.' Asparus stared at them while mumbling about things.

Lettu's appearance lifted the group's spirit quite a bit, with pointless conversation and good laughs, they spent some time just entertaining the little boy. But they stand out a lot in the middle of the street, and from the shadows, someone was staring at them with hungry curious eyes.

"Good afternoon to you people. I am sorry, but, I will have to ask that you move away. This has become too big of a commotion." A strange Saiyan approached them, with a strange ball dangling in his right hand.

"And who are you?" Asparus changed the tone of his voice, back to a more formal way.

Asparus don't recognize this man. He has a long and somewhat straight black hair; his skin is pale, more so than any other Saiyan that Asparus knows. His outfit is the standard defense force battle armor, but his undershirt is obsidian black with matching colors pants, and he uses a strange looking white boots, not a style of shoes that the prince has seen yet.

"Sorry, my prince. I didn't notice that it was you." The man bowed his head but quickly walked pass Asparus. "My name is Henkanegi, an elite member of the defense force… And soon to be the new ace." His eyes curiously stare at the two girls, never looking away from them.

"Soon to be the new ace?" Caulifla raised an eyebrow. "You claim to be stronger than Cabba?"

"Now, now. I said soon to be, so I am not stronger than him yet." He winked at her and bent his head to the side. "But for someone so pretty as you are, I can make an exception and show you my power right now."

"Y-you, stay back!" Lettu jumped in front of Caulifla, holding both of his fists in the air.

"What?!" Henkanegi didn't notice the boy at first and was startled when he jumped in his way. "Aren't you Cabba's little brother?" The Saiyan crouched and smiled at Lettu, his eyes shining like he found a lost coin. "Such a cute little thing."

"Henka-something, right? What do you want?" Caulifla gently pulled Lettu to her side and take a single step, standing in front of him.

"Henkanegi, but you can call me Negi, it's easier that way." He clapped his hands together in a cheerful way, giving Caulifla a childish smile. "What do you say, about we go someplace more fun?"

"Do you have any idea of who this one is?" Asparus walked to Kale's side, seeing how uncomfortable she was with the constant gazes that the other Saiyan was giving her.

"Of course I know, the infamous Caulifla." He pointed his hands at her. "There is no soldier in the force who doesn't know her."

"First Cabba, now another nuts guy appears to have a crush on this brute woman?" Asparus started to laugh but didn't last long, before Kale slapped his back.

Henkanegi smiled at the prince's words, like he just took the challenge to heart, with this he walked even closer to her, but Caulifla was not pleased at all.

"Gave a quick thought about my invite?" He put his hand close to her's, waiting for her to make the next move.

"Don't wanna." She scoffed. "I am not in the mood to amuse flirty pushy soldiers."

"If the mood is the only problem, we can quickly change that." He made a quick spin gesture with his right hand. "I can help you get in the mood."

"She already said no." An angry and familiar voice came from behind her.

"Are you serious?" Asparus turned to face the other side and got incredulous on who had just shown up.

"Big Brother!" Lettu left Caulifla's side and ran towards Cabba.

"Hm… I heard you were not in Sadala." Henkanegi walked a few feet away from Caulifla and stared at Cabba.

"Yeah, but I am here now." With Lettu in his arms, making an angry face, Cabba walked pass Caulifla, standing between her and the other Saiyan. His face carrying the same frown as his little brother.

"Sheesh, no need to give me a death stare. I know when my presence is not being appreciated." Henkanegi gave a faint smiled and turned his back to leave. "Hey pretty girl, maybe I see you around later."

"Maybe…" She responded half joking, but it was enough to make Cabba turn his head to her with a mixture of shocked and angry expression. "What?" Caulifla asked, faking to not know what she just did.

"Seriously, maybe?" He said even more angry, before putting his brother carefully on the ground.

"Jealous?" Caulifla joked again.

"Maybe…" Normally Cabba would deny in embarrassment, but right now he is really jealous of her and angry at the situation.

"Well, this is awkward." Asparus whispered to Kale, who just nodded in response.

"Lettu, let's go home." Cabba's father walked to the group and was surprised to see both of his sons together. "Cabba?! When did you come back?"

"Sorry dad, for not saying anything about that, but later I will explain to you." Cabba apologized the best he could and knowing his father it would be enough.

"Fair enough, I see that you are busy right now, so, at night we can talk." Noticing his lack of manners, the older man greeted everyone and in no time he grabbed Lettu, seating him in his shoulders.

"Bye-bye, Brother, Miss Caulifla, Miss Kale, Mister Wimp." Lettu waved his arms, as his father walked away carrying him.

"At this point, I don't even care anymore." Asparus dropped his arms in defeat.

"He doesn't mean anything bad, you know that right?" Kale tapped at the prince left arm, he turned his face to her and smiled.

"You can tell him later or never, but you are going to tell me everything, right, NOW." Caulifla grabbed hold of Cabba's arms, squeezing it with much strength.

"Okay, okay." Cabba gasped in pain as she held him tighter. "Can we at least go to a more private place?"

"Sure, just not going to let go of you." She smirked and started to fly away, pulling Cabba with her.

* * *

 

 

"Master Champa, dinner is ready." Vados entered the room wearing a white apron on top of her clothes.

"Hm…? Oh, yeah." Champa gave a short and odd answer.

"What is the matter, Master Champa?"

"The thing that Beerus said, I cannot take out of my head." Champa got up from his chair and walked to the door.

"If Freeza is on your universe, then that means that someone else is working with him or using him." The memory of Beerus's words is clear on Champa's mind, it has not left his thoughts even for a second.

"I have a bad feeling about this Freeza incident…" Champa turned his gaze to the angel. "I just hope that the one behind all this is not who I think it is."

"Should we go after him after all?" Vados changed her tone of voice, more serious and stern.

"Nah… If we show up, then the mastermind is not going to reveal himself. Just leave the minion to Cabba."

Vados chuckled a little, much to Champa's immediate annoyance. "Are you growing fond of him?"

"I am not weak like Beerus, now let's eat." He shifted the course of the conversation quickly, but it didn't make Vados stop giggling about it.

* * *

 

 

The sun is just setting, hiding behind the top of the mountains, tinting the sky with a bright orange color. In the isolated area that is around Caulifla's house, where almost no sound could be heard, with the exceptions being the gush of the wind and the sound of some spaceships flying far away in the sky. Inside the little and modest building, Caulifla and Cabba were alone in the living room, while Asparus is helping Kale on the kitchen.

All of them listened quietly to Cabba's story, but as it was nearing its end, Caulifla was getting more and more impatient, but continued to listen without saying a word back. When Cabba finally finished, Kale and Asparus left the room, giving the other two the much needed time alone.

"So you went to the seventh universe?" Caulifla asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes, just for a little bit." Cabba responded in the same calm manner.

"Did you get to fight that rude guy?" She asked, but this time not so quiet.

"Master Vegeta? I did." He scratched the back of his head, knowing what is coming next.

"Dammit, Cabba." She jumped out of the couch, flinging her hands around. "I wanted to go too, I so want to beat that Goku guy, why didn't you take me with you?"

"Sorry, I was not thinking straight." Cabba looked at her, with puppy eyes. "But, I understand now, I can't do this alone." He grabbed one of her hands and pulled Caulifla next to him, making her sit on the couch, by his side.

"Hmph… Finally, you understand." She held his hands, then moved her right hand upwards, caressing his neck slowly and passionately. "But, that is a shame. I think you would look cute with a leash in your neck."

"A leash?!" Cabba stared confused at her. "You sure say some strange things."

"I am not joking, you know." Her eyes are dead serious, and the smile in her lips is seductively taunting him.

Cabba went full red again, returning to his impression of tomato-man, his body stiffened and his lips are trembling like a leaf in a stormy day. But, suddenly he broke out in a fit of laughter, startling Caulifla a little.

"What are you laughing about?" Now she turned red, felling a bit dumb for being serious.

"Sorry, for some reason you reminded me of miss Bulma." Cabba swallowed dry when he noticed the angry expression on her face.

"And who the hell is Bulma?" Caulifla yelled, almost making Cabba go deaf.

"Master Vegeta's wife." He waved his hands in panic. "When I was in his home, I saw him with his family." Cabba smiled tenderly again. "He was like a different person with them, he seemed so happy and at peace."

"And how I remind you of her?" She raised an eyebrow but was calmer in her question.

"Just thought, that maybe that's how she tamed him." Cabba laughed some more. "Maybe she just put a leash on him, to tame the guy."

"So… You want me to tame you?" Caulifla whispered softly in his left ear.

"Wha- No, that's, wait…" Cabba blushed and tried to jump out of the couch, but Caulifla held his body down.

"I am not going to let you run away this time." She sat on top of him and bit his left ear, after whispering to him again.

Every bit of Cabba's body shivered when she did that, he could feel her weight on top of him, her breath on his neck and her hands on his chest. 'G-Gods, is she really doing this? If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up.' She planted a kiss on his left cheek and then the right one, teasing Cabba to his limit.

"Caulifla." He raised his voice unconsciously.

"Shhh... Be quiet." Her breath on his ears was driving Cabba crazy. "I am taming you, so don't talk."

This time, Caulifla locked her lips with his, surprising Cabba. Their first kiss was long, clumsy and wet. Cabba placed his hands on her back, but he doesn't know what to do with them, while Caulifla pressed herself even more against him, making Cabba release a little moan between their kisses.

"Ahhh, Sorry, I didn't mean to, Sorry!" Kale yelped as she entered the living room with teacups in hands.

"And there goes the mood." Caulifla sighed as she gets out of Cabba's lap. She left the room, following after her friend, who ran back to the kitchen.

"W-what?" Cabba's said to Asparus who was accompanying Kale before she ran.

"Nothing, lover boy." Asparus was smiling from ear to ear.

"Shut up." Cabba waved his hands angrily but failed to hide the big smile on his face.

"I can't do that. I have a favor to ask." Asparus sat beside Cabba. "Forget that, it's not a favor. Take it as a royal decree."

"I thought only the king could issue a royal decree." Cabba punched lightly Asparus's arm.

"Don't dwell on it." Asparus rolled his eyes up.

"Then, what do you want?"

"Would you train me?" The prince stared at him, with the most serious expression that he ever used.

"Train you? I don't know if I am able to train anyone." Cabba scratched his forehead.

"I know you can, well, at least better than your girlfriend." Cabba opened his mouth to reply, but Asparus lifted his right hand at him. "Don't say any of those things anymore. To deny it after kissing the girl, would be very rude and heartless."

Cabba sighed in defeat, but soon after smiled to himself. "If is that what you want, I will train with you."

"Thank you." He extended his right hand to Cabba, who grabbed and shook it in respect.

"Wait, you trained with Caulifla?" Cabba widened his eyes in surprise.

"Well, actually-"

"CABBA!" Both Saiyans jumped out of the couch, scared at Caulifla sudden yelling. "I forgot to ask you, do you know that clown from before, in the market square?"

"Negi?!" He said gasping while holding his chest. "I saw him a couple of times in the force, but I don't know him very well… Neither do I want to." Cabba frowned his forehead.

"Ha! And I know exactly why." Asparus laughed in contentment.

"Wasn't he looking at Kale as well?" Cabba pointed at the Saiyan girl beside Caulifla.

"Hey now, don't try to push this on me." Asparus waved both of his hands in a funny way. "The jealous show is yours.

"Sis… I think is time for me to go home." Kale said in a low voice and walked towards the door.

Asparus glared at Cabba, practically screaming with his eyes, 'See what you have done?' He dashed after Kale, catching the door before it closed. "I will walk with you, never know when that creep will show up." With that, he closed the door behind him.

"So he does care about Negi going after Kale." Cabba smiled cheerfully, and then he felt Caulifla arms wrapping around his neck from behind.

"What about you. Want to spend the night here today?" She blew a soft whisper in his neck.

'Yes, I want to, so much… Gods, I want to spend the night here.' Cabba thought to himself in silence. "Sorry, but today I have to go back home. My father must be already waiting for me."

"Too bad." Caulifla said laughing disappointedly. She let go of him and sat on the couch again. "See you tomorrow then?"

"Yes, without a doubt." Cabba gave Caulifla a radiant smile, warming up her heart and making her blush.

* * *

 

 

Blending with the darkness of the night, a shaded figure stands alone in a corner of Sadala's slums, holding a grey orb in hands. He checks one more time to see if anyone notices him, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. As the orb starts to flicker, an evil smile appears in his face.

"It's always an honor to speak to you, master." He spoke directly to the orb.

"Then, what is your progress?" A distorted and distant voice spoke through the orb.

"It's all coming together, my lord." The mysterious person stated.

"And yet you have nothing to show." The orb's voice grew angry. "What about Freeza, any progress on his part?"

"I am not with him, my lord. I am sorry but I can't provide this information."

"And how long is going to take for you to provide that?" The orb started to glow, leaving a slight burning wound on the palm of the man's hand. "Maybe I should send Ghil anyway, that will give you people some motivation."

"My lord, please reconsider." The man trembled and sweat in desperation. "We have everything under control. The Saiyan boy struggling on our work in Udim was merely a coincidence, but thanks to him, we have a better way to seize control."

"I don't really care the meanings and resource you're going to use, just don't make me wait too much." The glow on the orb faded, and the man expression relaxed again.

"I give my word to you my lord. Very soon our plan will be set in motion." The man bowed but got no response from the orb. And yet he smiled as if he had achieved his objective. "Soon Sadala shall fall."


	6. Chapter 5 - A Storm is Coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.

* * *

 

Despite Cabba’s earnest urgency, the time passed by without any anomalies or signal of Freeza’s trail. Almost as he had never set foot on the sixth universe, Freeza and his men disappeared from the known space of the galaxy.  The young Saiyan tried everything he could to track the monster again but failed every time, and without much else to do, he decided to return home.

Soon as his ship landed on Sadala and he made his way to his house, Caulifla showed up, trying to monopolize all of his time, but having a lot of difficulty in having to compete with Lettu for Cabba’s attention. To make matters worse for her, Asparus soon appeared too, holding Cabba to his promise of training him. And yet with all the craziness happening around him, Cabba felt happy like never before, this scenario reminded him of his little time in Vegeta’s house and his family. Maybe like this, he could become strong as his master is, having friends and family alongside him, to help him grow.

 

* * *

In the now common habit for them, the young soldier and the Saiyan prince, met at the deserted plains to train together. The place used to be full of trees and grass but now is full of holes and damaged ground.

Today is no different, they trained until Asparus collapsed to the ground, laying down with both arms crossed on his face, with Cabba sitting close to him.

“We have been training together for like a week, but, why don’t you take this more seriously?” Cabba frowned when stared at Asparus.

“What are you talking about?” Asparus lifted his head from the ground. “I have never been more serious in my entire life.”

“How do I say this… You know how to fight, and very well to be precise, that is clear.” Cabba rubbed his chin. “But your punches and kicks don’t have power in them and not even one time you tried to fire a ki blast at me.”

“It’s not like I didn’t want to, is just that… I can’t.” The prince's voice came out low, almost fading. Cabba noticed the anguished expression on his face.

Cabba’s eyes glared suspiciously at Asparus. “How come you can’t use your ki? I know you can fly just like anyone else, so that doesn’t make sense.”

Asparus released a deep sigh, he doesn’t feel comfortable talking about his past, but, he knows that he can trust Cabba with his life. “To tell the truth, I don’t want to use my ki.” He glanced at Cabba, still hesitating to speak. “I can’t control it, the last time I tried, this happened.” He placed his right hand in the dark cloth tape on his cheek.

“Can I see it?” Cabba pointed to that spot on the prince’s face.

“No.” The answer was short and dry.

Cabba laughed in jest of the prince reaction, Asparus who was tense for talking about his past, became more at ease after seeing his friend laugh.

“At least show me your ki, the extension of what you can control.” Cabba stood up and started to stretch his legs.

“I don’t think is a good idea.” Asparus sit up, crossing both arms behind his head.

“I can’t teach you how to fight, As I said before, you already know that. But maybe there is one thing that I can teach you, and that is how to control your ki.”

“If you say so, don’t blame me later.” Asparus stood up in his feet and walked away from Cabba, making some space between them.

“Just focus and release your ki, let me worry about the rest.” Cabba put his right thumb up. Asparus only smiled at this and closed his eyes.

Cabba observed in silence, his eyes shifting its focus from the prince foot stance to the position of his arms, while Asparus was concentrated in his mind. It took only but a few seconds to Asparus's ki start to manifest, in a huge muffled noise the ground beneath him started to crack, a massive aura surrounded the prince blowing dust and pebbles everywhere.

‘What… What is this ki?’ Cabba used his arms to shield his eyes from all the things flying around. ‘It doesn’t stop to increase in power, his real strength is… amazing.’ Cabba flared up his own ki, surrounding himself with a powerful aura as well, with this being able to withstand the blows of wind coming from Asparus.

“Gods, this is so hard to control.” Asparus put both of his hands to his head.

“You’re doing fine, just keep going, push everything out.”  Cabba clapped his hands together.

Asparus received all the confidence he needed from his friend’s words, with this, he forgot all about the pain in his head and lowered his hands back to their previous position. Shouting loudly, Asparus reached to all the power inside him, making an eruption of power and heat, so powerful and intense that even the clouds in the sky started to push away.

‘So this is the real power of the Saiyan prince?’ Cabba’s eyes sparkled with interest looking at the prince powerful aura. “If you had this much power hiding inside you, why not use it-“ Before Cabba could finish talking, his voice vanished, not only that, all the sound around them seemed to have disappeared. Asparus light aura changed into a silver color, it started to enlarge and expand at an incredible rate, suddenly all the energy gathered flared in a shining light embracing everything around it.

A silver dome of light exploded in a spectacular fashion, demolishing and destroying anything that it touched. Making an extraordinary sound that could be heard from the capital city far in the distance. When the light finally died out, most of the plains ground was gone, and now in its place is a giant crater.

“What the hell was that?!” Cabba emerged from the ground between dust and stones. In a quick reaction before the explosion, he transformed into Super Saiyan 2, and yet his body suffered a lot from the energy blow, leaving him with a lot of bruises. “Asparus, where are you?” Cabba scanned his surrounds but found no signal of his friend.

“I-I am here.” The only thing that Cabba could see was one hand sticking out of the dust, in the middle of the crater.

Cabba rushed down the hole, and grabbed Asparus hand, pulling him out and helping him sit down. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, at least most of me.” He grabbed his left arm, which is bleeding quite a lot. “I warned you that would not end well.” Asparus seemed exhausted, gasping between words.

“It wasn’t all that bad.” Cabba smirked gesturing to the sides with his hands. “At least I could see your potential.”

“Quite powerful, right?” Asparus laughed at his own statement.

“Maybe, if you can control it.” Cabba joked back. ‘Yes, it was powerful, alright. His ki is probably stronger than mine in my normal form.’

“Yeah, right. I am not using that ever again.” Asparus stood up, hissing in complaints.

“Want some help to get back home?” Cabba extended his hand to the prince.

“I appreciate the offer, but no need to bother, I can get home alone.” Asparus shook most of the dust out of his clothes. “But Cabba, you should go talk to my father soon. It’s getting difficult to stall him on this. My father is not known to have much patience.”

Cabba got tense; he took a few steps backward and crossed his arms. “I know that, but I got nothing to show to him.”

“And yet, if he finds out that you’re spending most of the time with your girlfriend.” Asparus cringed back but still stared at Cabba. “Worse, if he finds out who is your girlfriend, he is not going to keep quiet about it.”

“What about you?” Cabba gave a weak smile back.

“What about me? I don’t have a girlfriend and he doesn’t like me already, so doesn’t make a difference, if I pissed him off or not.”

“Sure, you won. I will report to the king as soon as possible.” Cabba scratched his head. “But I still have nothing to show to him.”

“Don’t fret. He adores his super elite ace. Just show up and he will be glad enough.” Asparus teased one last time before flying off.

“Jeez, just shut up about this ace thing.” Before, Cabba didn’t really care about his ace position in the defense force, but now with so many people making a ruckus about it, he starting to get bothered a little.

 

* * *

The house is quiet, most of the lights are off. Cabba walked inside the front door missing the usual warm welcome he receives in his house. “Hello? Anybody home?” The sound of the voice was soon followed by noises and giggles coming from the kitchen.

“He is here, he is here.” A low voice said while excited. “Shush, he is going to hear you.” A different voice came after.

The suspicious environment made Cabba raise an eyebrow, something clear is fishy here. ‘I’m sure that I heard Lettu’s voice.’ Normally the little boy would have run to his brother’s arms but until now nothing. Cabba walked slowly towards the kitchen, after each step hearing more and more voices in there.

“Cabba!” Caulifla peeked with her head from the kitchen door, with a huge smile on her lips.

“Cabba!” Lettu did the same thing but yelling even louder.

“Oh gods!” Cabba jumped backward “Hi.”He clenched his chest, his heart almost popping off from the scare.

“We gave him a scare.” Caulifla laughed so hard that tears started to form in her eyes.

 “Mom, brother is here.” Lettu dashed inside the kitchen again.

“Where have you been?” She walked to him and traced the bruises in his left arm with her fingers.

“Training… with Asparus.” He shivered from her touch and the ache that came from it.

“With the wimp?” She asked suspiciously. “And how did you get those bruises.”

“We had a little accident, and he kind of blew up both of us.” Cabba smiled jovially at her.

 “He beat you?” Her eyes grew wide. “Stop joking around.”

“There was not beating anyone or anything, but, you should reconsider what you think of him. He maybe will surprise you someday.”

“Wimp will always be a wimp.” Caulifla pouted and threw her arms around Cabba’s neck. “Let’s talk about something better, like us.” She delivered a light kiss to his left cheek.

“C-Caulifla! Wait, maybe not here.” He pressed himself against her to hide his face in her voluminous hair.

She adores his shy behavior, and adore even more to tease him about it. Not even once, he failed to turn red when she tried to flirt with him and that only made it better for her. Caulifla planted her lips on the side of his neck and bit him lightly.

“A-Ah… Stop” Cabba yelped like a little girl.

Low and energetic giggles came from the kitchen door. “Big brother made such a funny noise.” Lettu was sitting in front of the door, with both hands covering his mouth doing his best to not laugh, but failing hard at it.

“What are you doing there?” Cabba pushed himself away from her in a hurry.

“Mom asked me to call you, dinner is ready.” Lettu said, jumping out of the ground.

“I have to take a shower, you go ahead.” He gave a soft patting on the boy’s head. “I am glad that you came to have dinner with us today.” Cabba turned his head to Caulifla.

“Yeah, I asked her to come today.” Lettu said happily. “I told her about your special gift.”

“You did what?” Cabba glared at his brother. “Why would you tell her?”

“Mom says that we shouldn’t keep secrets.” The young boy took a step back and stared down at the ground.

“It was a surprise, not a secret.” Cabba said in a loud voice while flinging his arms upwards.

Lettu looked up to his brother, with tears forming in his eyes, he then sprinted toward the kitchen. “Mom! Cabba is yelling at me.”

“You don’t need to be angry with him.” Caulifla approached Cabba from behind, saying in a low voice behind his right ear.

“I’m not angry with him.” Cabba released a low and long sigh. “I was just looking forward to the surprise.”

“Were you?” She smirked at him. “So what is my gift?”

“Oh no, I won’t be telling you. Now is a secret surprise.” Cabba walked in slow steps to the stairs for the second floor. “Just wait until after dinner.”

“I would say that I am looking forward to it, but, right now I am looking at something else.” Her gaze was locked staring at Cabba’s back, more specifically, in the lower region. She grinned in contentment as he started to climb the steps.

 

* * *

The dark sky and star’s light always transform the palace into a magic view for anyone that sees it from up close. The giant walls and decorative pillars shine as if they are producing the light. It’s a scenery that the prince always appreciated even as a child, to stroll around the castle was always one of his favorites things to do, but now, with his recent and frequent visits to the more desolated areas of Sadala, this place has lost part of its magic to him.

Asparus strolled through the empty halls, going in the direction to the outside garden door. After several minutes inside a hot bathtub, his body is now rested and without a trace of the pain from earlier training with Cabba. He opened the big door and immediately noticed someone, sitting down in one of the benches in the center of the garden.

“So, you’re finally home.” The woman called to him, in a calm and kind voice.

She is beautiful like no other women, the beauty of the emerald green plants next to the bench, pale in comparison to her. Her hair Is long and curly, going far past her waist, the complexion of her face is sweet, and yet, fierce enough to put fear in the heart of anyone that dares to defy her. The woman uses a red long skirt, showing part of her elegant feminine side, but, the top part of the outfit, is much more sharp and strong, with dark blue long-sleeved shirt, in shape being close resemblance to a battle armor, being short only in her left side where the woman is missing an arm.

“Mother, it’s good to see you.” Asparus turned his face to the side, hiding his left side from her view.

“Why don’t you sit here with me?” She slid a bit to the left and slapped with her hand on the free space on the bench.

“Just give me one second.” He turned completely away from her and took out of his pocket a new cloth tape.

The queen stared at the back of her son, displaying a saddened smile on her lips. Ever since that day, he never let her see the scar on his face. It was the same day that she lost her left arm, but that injury bothered her a lot less than seeing Asparus carry this guilt with him his entire life.

“I’m done.” He turned back, now with the tape on his face. He strolled his way towards her, with a boyish smile on his lips.

“I can see that.” She smiled back at him, when he sat beside her. “Are you going to tell me what have you been doing all this time you spend away from the palace?”

“I am training.” He proudly answered.

“You? Training?” She stared at him in disbelief and then started to laugh so hard that she almost fell off the bench.

“Mother, please. Is not that hard to believe in me, right?” Asparus threw his right hand in his face, embarrassed by her reaction. “I want to be stronger, like you.”

 “Hm… you’re training and committing yourself so much just to be stronger?” She bent her head closer to him. “There is nothing else that you want to tell your mom?”

“Maybe there is something else.” He whispered in his breath and looked away. “I think, that I like someone… In a romantic way.”

“Oh, I see.” Her voice changed to a more serious tone. “That’s why you leave so early and come back late night… The soldier boy?”

“Soldier boy?” Asparus stood up confused, looking at his mother’s eyes. “Cabba? What!? No, not him., he is my friend, I don’t see him like that.”

The queen again let out a thunderous laugh, making even the flowers, closer to her, shake. “Calm down, I’m only teasing you.” She stood up as well, giving him a strong slap in the arm. “Who is it then?”

Asparus caressed his sore arm, but, he never stopped smiling during the whole time he is with his mother. “Her name is Kale.” His eyes shined with passion as soon he mentioned her name. “She is really shy, like too much shy at times, but I like that about her because when she speaks up or act on her own, you know that she is not faking anything. Some days ago I got injured because of a fight and she helped me with such care and kindness, it shocked me.”

The prince kept going on and on about the thing he liked about Kale, he seemed lost at his own little world while thinking about her. His mother never saw him so passionate about anyone or anything, it is like he had changed into a different person, all because of this girl.

“And she is really pretty too… What?” He suddenly stopped after noticing the fascinated expression on the queen’s face.

“Nothing, you just looked so immersed in your thoughts of this girl.” She giggled softly.  “It’s so cute to see my little baby in love.”

“Okay, chat time is over. I’m going to bed.” Asparus gracefully turned around and tried to walk away to the entrance, but his mother grabbed him from behind locking him in place.

“Not so fast.” Even with one arm, she is strong enough to hold Asparus tight and not let him get away. “When am I going to meet this mysterious Kale?”

‘If father is around, never.’ Asparus held his tongue before his thought could escape. “Mother, I said that I maybe like her, it doesn’t mean that we have a relationship.”

“There is no maybe in here.” She hit Asparus’s forehead with her index finger. “After that lovely little speech about the qualities of this girl, there is no denying. You love her.” She whirled around him, stopping in front of his face. “For you to be denying it… Then she doesn’t like you back? So rude, what is there to not like about my gorgeous son?”

 “I know, right? There is no Saiyan more perfect than me.” The prince joked sarcastically while laughing and making theatrical gestures with his arms. “I don’t know how she feels about me or anything most of the time.” He sighed. “As I said before, she is really shy and rarely talks about herself.”

“More reason for me to meet with her.” The queen smirked at him. “I would probably squeeze a lot of information from her.”

“And scare her to death. Now I don’t want you to meet with her at all.” Asparus seized this opportunity and ran towards inside the palace.

“I promise to not scare her… too much.” The queen followed her son while giggling and laughing at his reactions.

 

* * *

After Caulifla became a regular presence at Cabba’s family table, their dinners are never calm and quiet like they were before. She is loud, cheerful and really talkative, with Lettu trying to compete with her to see who get more attention from the rest of the family, feels like every night a party occurs at their house. Cabba’s parents already grew attached to Caulifla, like she was their own daughter, and they absolutely love the energy she brings to the house.

“Sis Cauflia, aren’t you gonna give him the surprise?” Said Lettu dangling in his chair.

“You’re right, I almost forgot.” Caulifla slapped her forehead.

She stood up from her seat and walked to the oven, far back on the kitchen. While looking at something inside, she kept humming a happy tune. Cabba’s mother looked at him, giggling, hiding her mouth behind her hands.

“Such a good lady.” His father nodded in approval. “Son, you’re going to love this.”

Cabba remained in silence, staring at her back. He was becoming a little nervous at this sudden development, and for all that he could see, he was the only one who doesn’t know about this surprise.

“Well, since I knew you brought something for me, which by the way, I am dying to know what it is.” She turned back to the rest of them, with two dishcloths on hands, holding an aluminum tray. “I decided to do something for you too.”

“You can cook?” Cabba’s mouth dropped, after seeing the shape of Caulifla posing with a tray in hands.

“Of course, I can.” She stomped her foot on the ground. “What kind of question is that?”

The older couple exchanged glances and smiled to each other, both amused by the situation and how much the young Saiyans get along with each other.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect that.” He waved his hands and laughed.

“Then feast your eyes on this.” She placed the tray on top of a wooden board, next to a bowl of rice. “Ta-dah! My genius recipe of roasted cabbage with cheese and meat.”

“Hey, I helped too.” Lettu claimed, lifting his hands.

Cabba looked up and down at the dish that she made, it sure smelled great, but something seemed funny about it, the way the food was shaped got his attention.

“It’s just me or your dish have an interesting form?” He asked almost joking.

“You noticed!” She smirked proudly. “This is a special one, a Cabba shaped dish.”

“Wait, it was supposed to look like me?” He turned his gaze back to the tray. Now he noticed some semblance to him, at least the spiky form on the top side, resembling his hair.

“What, you didn’t like it?” She frowned and looked disheartened.

“No, no. I love it.” His expression changed into a more kind and sweet one, reassuring her with a soft smile.

“I say it’s time for us to eat some Cabba.” Cabba’s father interjected, grabbing with his fork a portion of the Cabba shaped food.

“No! He was supposed to eat it first.” Caulifla screeched.

“Hoo, it’s so good.” But the old man didn’t get bothered at all.

“I want some too.” Lettu jumped right after his dad, grabbing some for him as well.

Caulifla screamed again, but now she grabbed a big portion with her own fork and handed to Cabba personally. He stared at it for a few moments, but quickly bite the food off her fork, blushing furiously.

The dinner night continued with a lot of laughs and jests. the first one to leave the table was Lettu, who after eating his mother made him go to bed after washing his teeth. Then Caulifla and Cabba left to his room, leaving his parents in the kitchen talking about the eventful night.

“I have spent a lot of time in your house lately, but this is the first time I came to your room.” The spiky-haired lady started to touch and investigate everything on her sight.

Cabba’s bedroom was smaller than her own, and she expected to see a bigger one since the rest of the house is so big. But, for some reason it seemed more spacious than hers, everything is organized, from books to clothes, nothing was out of place or dropped on the floor. On all this tidy environment, she noticed a mess of papers on top of his surprisingly large bed.

“Wow, look how sloppy you are.” She said sarcastically, sitting on the bed end and grabbing one of the papers. Taking a closer look at the paper in her hand, Caulifla noticed that was a mission report from the Defense Force, she then looked at other papers close to her and noticed that they all were reports from missions that others Saiyans had done, all marked in red at any mention of an unknown aggressor or threats. “Are you still obsessed with Freeza?” Her face changed to a concerned aspect.

“I’m not obsessed with him.” He frowned and looked at her. “It’s my job to find him, and I will.” Cabba turned his back and walked to a bookshelf on the other side of his room. “Forget about this for now.” He turned back, smiling and blushing, carrying a small black box with him.

Caulifla’s eyes glinted at the first look on the box, she crossed her arms, smirking expectantly. Cabba tread in slow steps, gulping for courage, he kneeled in front of her, putting the box on her lap.

“This, this is for you.” With his hands trembling a little bit, he opened the box, revealing a shiny silver bracelet, adorned with three little small rubies in a shape of heart, placed right in the middle of it.

“Cabba… it’s lovely.” She took the bracelet out of the box with care, holding with both hands. “I could make a lot of money selling this.”

“You can’t sell it.” Cabba cried loud, with desperation in his eyes.

“I’m teasing you. I would never sell it.” She put the bracelet on her left arm, sliding it closer to her hand. “I loved it.”

“Really? I’m so glad to hear it.” Cabba got up and sat close to Caulifla. “I heard that gifts like that are a way to a girl’s heart.”

“You want to be in my heart?” She changed her gaze from the bracelet to Cabba’s eyes. “Don’t be stupid, I already want you.” Caulifla never averted her eyes from him while saying that, this made Cabba stagger and almost fell back to the bed. “I want you nearly as much I want my Super Saiyan 3.”

“What, I still loose in priority to the new transformation?” He shrugged.

“Of course. I already have you, so you have less priority.” She boasted proudly.

Cabba stared at her, smiling but lifting an eyebrow. “Already have me? From where that confidence comes from?”

“You asked for it, I going to show how much you’re mine already.” Caulifla lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his body, making a lock with her hands at his back.

Cabba tried to withstand both of their weight, but his strength gave out, making them fall off the bed onto the ground. They fell side by side, but Caulifla shifted them to the right, placing herself on top of him.

“I think that my cabbage dish was not enough to compensate for this lovely gift.” She blew a sweet whisper into his right ear. “What should I do?” With a naughty wink, she tried to allure him.

“I-I don’t know.” Before he could continue stammering his words, Caulifla pressed her lips against his.

“But I know.” She pressed on, holding both of his hands in the floor. The kisses came one after another, Cabba never felt so good in his entire life, his mind was almost leaving his body, but, he didn’t want it to wander off, he wants to experience this, he wants to remember her touch, her smell, and her taste.

And like this, this night has become a night he will never forget.

 

* * *

The queen lay on the enormous bed, holding a book in her hand. She was alone in the royal chamber. Like most days, she was used to be alone until late at night in her bedroom.

A creak came from the big doors as they opened. Coming from the gap between them, a large man stepped inside the room.

“Busy day today?” She closed her book and turned her attention to the man.

“Sorry for being late again. There are so many problems recently, not only in Sadala but, in the whole Galaxy as well.” The king looked exhausted, and in a foul mood. But just the sight of his beloved wife was enough to ease him up.

“I talked to Asparus today.” She smiled at her husband. “Apparently, he Is training every day.”

“Our son, training?” He said suspiciously. “Are you sure, you didn’t hear it wrong?”

The king changed his outfit, putting only a light shirt and a pair of loose pants. He walked to their bed and lay beside his wife.

“I am positive of it.” She laid her head on his chest, snuggling closer to him. “And there is more, I think he is in love with some girl.”

“To think that he would love something more than his own ego.” The king chuckled at his own words and received a strong slap on his arm. “Do you know this girl?” He asked.

“I don’t, but I really want to.” She answered in an energetic way. “Asparus said that her name is Kale.” She felt her husband flinch, she looked up to see his face and saw an angry and concerned expression.

“Now this…” He sighs. “Another thing for us to argue about.”

 

* * *

“Cabba, what are you doing here so early?” Greeno greeted Cabba, who just arrived at the palace entrance.

“Mister Greeno, Good day to you. I am here to see the king.” Cabba walked inside the building together with the other soldier.

“I hope you have something, king Sadala is in a foul mood ever since this whole trouble started.” Greeno was talking in a shush voice so that no one but Cabba could hear him.

Cabba gave an unease smile at Greeno, who in response shook his head and smiled back.

Both Saiyan soldiers entered the throne room, but Greeno was walking forward, after passing through the door, Cabba stayed behind and left the other one to proceed alone. “Your Majesty, Cabba seeks an audience with you.”

“He can step forward.” The king made an approval gesture with his hands.

Cabba walked pass Greeno and stood at the start of the steps to the throne. He noticed Asparus leaning his back against a pillar far to the left side of the room, he was not displaying a happy face.

“I assume that you came here today, to report on the case of the criminal that you’re chasing, correct?” the king spoke in an intimidating voice.

“Yes, your majesty.” Cabba bowed into one knee. “I looked into every report about incidents after my encounter with him, but I found nothing new.” Cabba lifted his head, only to see the displeased look on the king’s face. He gulped and continued. “Every crime and attempt of aggression is of know and normal criminals. Nothing relates back to Freeza, is like he disappeared into the darkness.”

“What about one of our ships that disappeared on space?” King Sadala stared at him, not saying another word.

“Pardon me, your majesty, but, what ship?” Cabba didn’t know about a missing ship and he kept looking everywhere for clues this whole time.

“Son, I know of your capabilities and how well you do your job.” The king stood up from his throne, his impressive height making him even more intimidating. “But allow me to ask you a question. Are you willing to throw away your bright career as a soldier, because of a thief? Because of someone that doesn’t respect Sadala or its army?”

Cabba didn’t respond, he doesn’t know how to, he only stared at the king, mouth open, wondering how he found out.

“You choose to waste your time with her, instead of doing your job properly?” The king was ruthless in his inquiry.

“Stop right there.” Asparus said, interfering. “If someone is at fault for his lack of time, then you should blame me. I was the one wasting his time with my training.”

“The issue here is not the time, it’s the people he chooses to have at his side.” The king spat words back at his son. “It’s unbecoming of a soldier to relate with bandits.”

“Unbecoming?!” Asparus yelled. “You can’t control his personal life, he is your subject, not your pet.”

“Are you yelling for his sake or it’s because of your own bandit friend?” The king hissed, getting angrier by the second. “Enough of this, Cabba you are dismissed. I expect a better report the next time you enter this room.”

“As you command, my lord.” Cabba stood up and turned his back to the throne walking slowly to the exit.

“Have it in your way, I don’t want to discuss this anymore.” Asparus said harshly, making his way after Cabba.

“Asparus.” The king called, with a vein popping up in his forehead. “You. Stay!” Cabba looked back and saw the frightening way that the king glared at his son. That glared was not even directed at him, But Cabba felt his blood turn cold and the floor disappearing from under his feet.

The king then shifted his gaze do Cabba, telling with his eyes that he should leave immediately, for which Cabba didn’t give a second thought to follow the orders and left the room. Once outside, in the main hall, he rested the back of his head against the giant door, scared to death of the king’s reaction and now afraid of his disapproval of Caulifla.

Cabba could still hear loud and agitated voices coming from behind the steel doors. He didn’t understand a word of the muzzled sounds, but the argument between the king and the prince was getting more and more serious.

“I will not let you talk about her like that.” Asparus yelled so loud that his voice sounded cleared, even being behind such thick wall

Next Cabba heard a huge explosion noise, startled, he jumped away from the door, just in time to see it burst open, with Asparus flying pass through it, landing on a wall far away in the opposite side of the hall.

“Are you alright?” Cabba ran towards Asparus, who was laying down on the floor, with smoking coming out of the hole torn in his shirt.

“I am fine.” He grabbed Cabba’s hand to get up. “That is just the way my old man shows off his love.” Asparus said in an arrogantly sarcastic way.

“Hey, that was quite the entrance.” A voice came from the main entrance door in the hall.

“Great, now the annoying guy shows up.” The prince clicked his tongue after recognizing the voice.

“I‘m not that bad, prince.” Henkanegi smiled at them. “I am sorry to intrude, but I could not help but listen to the whole affair.”

“Wait, did you hear my audience with the king, from this far away?” Cabba asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, my hearing is really good, it is special if a say so myself.” Negi said proudly. “But more importantly, did you know that I was the one who found out about the missing ship?”

“Really? When did you discover that?” It is a bad thing to think, but Cabba can’t bring himself to trust this guy, a gut feeling tells him that he is more than just annoying.

“I got that intel three days ago, and reported to the king about one day later.” Negi explained.

“Why didn’t you mention that to me, I informed everyone that I was after any clues about Freeza, this could take me to him.”

“Hey now, not so fast Cabba boy.” Negi placed his left hand on Cabba’s shoulder. “I will happily give you the location where we lost sight of the ship, but.” He paused for a second. “I want something from you in return.”

“What do you want?” Cabba shivered, imagining what this man would ask in return. ‘If he says anything about Caulifla, I will smash his face.’

“Hm… what do you say, we can have a little friendly match. You and me, one on one. To prove who is stronger.” Negi looked nervous and impatient.

“A fight?” Cabba got confused by this request. “You just want to fight with me?”

“Don’t say just a fight, it’s the fight, against the stronger Saiyan in the army. But yes, that is exactly what I want.”

“I accept your challenge. But I except that you will keep your word regardless of the outcome.”

“Great!” Negi Clapped his hands together. “Don’t worry, I will give you all the data I have, but only after the fight. Now I will gather everyone and prepare for our fight. I will meet you at the arena in the garrison, okay?”

In a troublesome hurry, Henkanegi bolted out of the palace, shouting with joy.

“You just gave him the perfect show that he wanted.” Asparus shook his head in disapproval.

“I don’t mind this… How bad can a friendly match be?” Cabba is oblivious to this, but soon he will regret these words.

 


	7. Chapter 6 - A New Love Blossoms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.

* * *

 

“Are you really sure about this?” Asparus looked at Cabba, both of them walking at a slow pace.

“Just give a rest already.” Cabba sighed. “If with this I can get the information from him, I don’t care about fighting.”

“Can you hear that?” Asparus stopped and put a hand in front of Cabba, making him stop as well.

Both of them stopped in the middle of an empty hall leading to the big arena of the soldier’s garrison. The prince didn’t even know about this place, to begin with, he was never a soldier and at first, only tagged along with Cabba because of an order from his father. With the two Saiyans in complete silence, the chatter and noises coming from the arena started to get louder and more noticeable.

“How many people are there?” Cabba squinted his eyes trying to see the distant end of the hall.

“We took no even one hour to get here, and he mobilized an army of spectators.” Said the prince in awe. “Maybe he had this planned far before inviting you.”

“The way you say it, it’s like he is stalking me.” Cabba cringed at the thought.

“Nice, now you have two stalkers.” Asparus scoffed at him, which made Cabba glare in disapproval at him.

Cabba resumed his pace, the prince soon followed after him. They proceed to enter the ground floor of the arena. In the giant ring of structures surrounding the place, are set enormous grandstands divided into three different levels, almost all seats of this stands were full of Saiyans, soldiers or commoners alike. At the center of the grounds stood a large and wide arena, elevated to be at the same level of the lowest grandstand, on the sides of this structure are stone circling stairs, going from the ground level to the floor of the battlefield.

“Holy sh… I never imagined this was so big.” Looking at all sides, like a lost kid, Asparus was shocked at the sight of the arena the soldiers use for their sports.

“It’s supposed to be used by a large number of warriors in training.” Lifting his right hand up, Cabba started to explain but decided it was not the time for it, so he stopped in the middle of the explanation.

“Look at that crowd.” Laughing nervously, Asparus pointed to the extreme sides of the place, where all the other people awaits. “Are you still not regretting your decision?” He poked fun at Cabba again, who now is a lot more nervous.

“Nothing I can do now.” He cracked his fists. “Wish me luck on this.”

“Come on, you don’t need luck to beat him.” The idea of the big mouthed and stupid energetic Henkanegi, be able to beat Cabba was enough to make Asparus chuckle. “I will find my way to one of those seats up there.” He pointed up, to one of the stands. “I will find you outside when you are finished with this.”

“Right, right.” After turning his back, Cabba waved his right hand to his leaving companion.

He made his way up the stairs, a common route that he is used taking, from his early days in the Defense Force, for training and fighting in the arena is one of the many duties of an aspirant soldier.

“Yes! You’re finally here.” With an enthusiastic shout, Negi called to Cabba who entered the arena from the left stair side.

Cabba almost feels bad for disliking this guy, he is like a kid, jumping and yelling when he is happy and annoyingly persistent when he wants something. But, maybe that day in the market square just left a too bad of an impression on him about Negi.

“Can we start this?”  With a swift motion, Cabba lifted his left arm and hold his right one to the side, assuming his battle stance.

“Wait, Wait!” Negi jumped holding his hands forward. “I just need to do one thing first.” He grabbed the chain hanging on his belt and pulled a dark blue orb that was hiding in his back. Holding the orb in one of his hands, he turned his attention to the crowd, gathering a lot of air in his lungs, he raised both of his arms upwards. “I thank everyone that made here in such short notice.” He shouted loud enough to echoed through the whole arena. “Since my opponent has arrived, is time to settle this and decide, who is the real ace of Sadala’s Elite Defence Force.”

An incredible ridiculous scene, that was Cabba’s thought as he was holding his laugh to not upset Negi in his big speech. The energetic Saiyan turned his gaze to Cabba again, now, with a stern look in his eyes and small smile in his lips.

“Are you done with the spectacular opening?” Cabba resumed his previous position.

“Yes. Now, that the best Saiyan… Wins!” Before finishing his line, Negi dashed to Cabba in a surprisingly fast speed, connecting his right fist with Cabba’s left arm.

A gush of wind pushed forward with a quick succession of attacks, up, down and up again, Cabba blocked all of the three punches with ease, pushing Negi away only with the strength of his left arm. A metal cling sounded right behind Cabba, as the other Saiyan disappeared and showed up close to his back, he felt a blow coming for his right leg and lifted it in a diagonal direction, but was blocked by his opponent left arm before it landed on his face.

Before Cabba could put his foot down on the ground again, Negi ducked fast and kicked in a swept motion. Without looking down, Cabba jumped off the ground, doing a forward somersault and holding his left leg up, he came down with his foot in Negi’s chest, crushing his body against the arena’s floor. The ground cracked and parts of it flew off to the sides, the impact was strong enough to bury the Saiyan warrior’s body a couple of inches down in the stone.

Cabba took his right fist up high and almost instantly descend it upon his opponent, aiming at his face. Negi crossed both of his arms and blocked the incoming punch, he opened his hands and two glowing energy balls formed on it, he shot first the on his left hand, Cabba slapped it away, then Negi fired the other one aiming it lower than the first one, the ball flew through nothing, as Cabba jumped away to evade the attack.

Jumping out of the ground into his feet, Negi prepared to launch himself towards Cabba but stopped his action after his eyes didn’t find anyone in its sights. He turned his head the fasted he could, but, before realizing anything, his vision became blackened and his head jerked backward with the impact of Cabba kick in his face. Temporarily blind, he gave a hectic response, firing multiples ki blasts to the direction that the kick came from, his fire barrage stopped when Cabba’s fist connected with his back sending him flying to the other side of the arena.

With his body staggering, Negi stood up again but having some difficulties to keep his balance. “Well – Argh-, I have to admit. I didn’t expect you to be so strong without even trying your best.” Holding his chest with one hand, he coughs and swallowed a bit of blood in his mouth. “Let’s see what happens when I try something new.” Negi took two firm steps forward, keeping his legs apart and took a long and deep breath.

 

* * *

Cramped in the middle of a lot of spectators, Asparus was intensely watching the fight, this is the second time that he could watch Cabba from a safe distance, he observed each and every move his friend made. When Cabba’s quick combo of kicks and punches, sent Henkanegi flying, the prince assumed that the was fight over.

“That clown still wants to fight?” He snorted as he saw Negi stood up again. “How can he not realize that he has no way of winning?” He kept looking at the other Saiyan, who is now gathering his ki, then a blinding sparkle startled the prince, he focused his eyes in its source and noted that it was coming from the orb tied on Negi’s back. “What is that thing doing?” He looked all around him, but no one else seemed to have noticed the glow coming from the orb, as they only stared at the shouting warrior.

 

* * *

“What is going on?” Cabba shielded his eyes from the waves of wind coming from Henkanegi’s aura. “His ki is getting bigger? No, not just that, is changing. How can someone change their ki?”

“Let’s fight like true warriors!” Negi shouted one more time, his white aura changing to a gold form, shining light at all sides, his long straight hair rose up, changing into a fiery shape and gold color.

“You can transform too?” In shock, Cabba took a step back. “Who teac-.“ Without finishing his sentence, Cabba’s jaw clenched in pain as he felt a punch in his stomach.

“Hell yes, this is more like it.” Sending both arms upwards, Negi broke Cabba’s guard again, with this opening, he delivered an elbow in his guts. Cabba’s body got launched off the ground with this strike, Negi flew after him kicking him back to the arena. “How it is like to be pressed on?” Taunting on his way down, he flew at full speed, holding one fist forward.

Cabba got up fast and grabbed Negi’s fist as he attacked. “Don’t try your luck too much.” The air around him exploded in golden energy, his eyes turned into greenish-blue color.

“Those eyes don’t scare me at all.” Negi tried to pull his arm free from Cabba’s grasp, but his attempted failed, as he could not outmatch Cabba’s strength in Super Saiyan form. Cabba pulled his opponent down, landing his fist in Negi's face, which made the Saiyan be pushed back again. Cabba pulled him one more time, but now his attack got blocked with a knee.

Henkanegi created a giant ball of energy with his free hand and tossed at the ground, Cabba finally released his grasp and jumped away. Both landed close to each other and started to trade blows.

“It has to be like this.” Negi smirked with confidence. “I have to beat you in your best.” He grabbed the other soldier by his hair and in a rapid sequence planted two punches in his face. “Show me, your real power!”

Cabba fired a small ball of ki onto the hand that was holding him, after freeing himself, he twirled lifting one leg up, delivering an upside down kick on the other man’s forehead. The loud noise that the hit made, echoed to the rest of the arena, Negi stumbled forward closing his eyes in pain. Cabba didn’t waste a single moment and charged at his opponent, landing one, two, three… Ten strikes in a succession on Negi’s body, to finish his attack he jumped, landing one last uppercut on the Saiyan’s jaw, sending him flying up high, landing all the way on the other side of the arena.

“Ha… Hahahah.” Negi knelled holding his head down. “Not enough… Still not enough.” He grew silent all of a sudden and stood up with a scowl in his face. “I will throw at you everything that I got.” Shouting like crazy, he involved himself into his golden aura, his hair twitched and changed shape, getting more aggressively looking, crackles of energy appeared around him as veins popped on his forehead.

“He even has that… Who is really this guy?” With his gaze completely focused on his opponent, Cabba placed both of his hand to the side, close to his left shoulder. “Here it comes.”

“Take this!” Negi placed both of his hands forward firing a massive ki blast.

“Galick Ho!” In response Cabba fired his on the attack, focusing a lot of power on it.

The two energy wave meet in the middle of the arena, destroying most of the ground around it. Stones, dust and energy all flying to the sides, as the mighty techniques struggled against each other. Bit by bit, Cabba’s Gallick Ho was beginning to be pushed back, his feet digging at the ground with the recoil.

“Dammit, if I don’t use Super Saiyan 2 as well…” Cabba looked behind him and saw the limit of the arena getting closer and closer.

“I am not going to lose!” Negi pushed his hands forward, putting even more power in this attack, making it grow twice the size it was.

The blue ki wave almost overwhelmed the purple one, pushing Cabba backward at an even faster rate. “Screw this.” Cabba stomped on the ground, his golden aura enlarged in a formidable way, he transformed into Super Saiyan 2. With a loud shout, he put all of his power in his attack, making it push the other one back, his Galick Ho grew in size in a ridiculous manner, now being almost four times bigger than Negi’s attack.

“What the shit?” Henkanegi’s eyes widened at the sight of Cabba’s true strength, his ki blast was reduced to nothing in a matter of seconds, the purple one pushed all the way forward hitting the other Saiyan and carrying him to the walls below the grandstands outside of the arena floors. A giant explosion erupted, shaking everything and opening a huge hole on the stone wall, the spectators who were sitting right above screamed in terror, while the others from the opposite side were laughing and clapping in amusement.

A body fell from the hole, all the way to the ground floor from where Cabba and Asparus entered. Cabba flew off after the Saiyan who just fell, rushing down to see if he was still alive.

“Crap…” Covered in blood and bruised, Negi was laying down on the floor, with just one eye open, looking up to the sky. “It seems that I lost.”

“Yeah, it looks like that.” Cabba now standing close to him, felt a little pity for the condition of his fellow soldier.

“I fought with everything that I have… But you were stronger. You are stronger.” He smiled, frustrated.

“Well, you made me use everything as well, so, I count as a good fight.” Smiling back, Cabba kneeled down.

“Now, now. I think that I have even more interest in you.” Negi made an effort to look up. “Maybe is love?”

Cabba cringed his way back up. “Just no… About the thing you promised me?”

“I put it in your locker on the soldier’s quarter, way before you came to the arena.” He sat down, holding one arm.

“Need any help?” Cabba wanted to rush out of here the fasted he could, but if someone needed his help, he would not turn his back on them.

“I am fine.” Negi waved his hands shooing Cabba away. “I can get back on my own.”

Saying nothing more, Cabba ran to inside the tunnel exiting the arena.

“Heheheh… I see you later. Ace of Sadala, Cabba.” Henkanegi smirked to himself, feeling the pain of his bruises, but his eyes are full of malice and contentment.

 

* * *

“That was quite the show.” After stepping out of the building, Cabba heard Asparus voice coming from behind him. The prince was leaning with his back against the wall, looking at Cabba with a mixture of angry and dejected expression on his face.

“More troublesome than I expected.” With a heavy sigh, Cabba dropped his shoulders.

“Did you noticed something off with that Negi guy?” Asparus expression changed into a more focused one.

“Other than he being able to use Super Saiyan 2, no. Why?” The question made Cabba raise an eyebrow.

“When he was transforming the little orb on his back started to glow.” The prince gesture with his hands. “It happened all the times he increased his ki.”

“Difficult to notice a small orb glowing, when the guy himself was shining like crazy.” Taking his left hand to his hair, Cabba tried to remember the recent fight but failed to notice anything odd in his memories.

“Maybe the ball was reflecting the light from his aura, it’s not important. Rather than that.” Asparus turned his head to the side, taking his eyes away from his friend. “From what I know, there is you, Caulifla and now that guy…” He heisted for a bit. “Can Kale do that too?”

“Do that?” The way the prince said it, mumbling in his words, confused Cabba at first. “You mean to turn into Super Saiyan?”

Asparus nodded quickly with his head.

“She can, but in her case is way more special.” Cabba smiled remembering the first time he saw her go berserk. “You can say that Kale is the strongest Saiyan in our universe.” He complemented.

Asparus stared at Cabba, speechless. The shy and quiet Kale that he knows, is the same that Cabba is claiming to be the strongest Saiyan. “Special how?” He finally spoke.

‘She becomes really big and angry.’ Cabba thought of explaining but decided not to. “Why don’t you ask her to show you?” He winked after giving the suggestion. “You two are a lot closer now, she will probably show to you, if you ask.”

The prince nodded just once, smirking happily, then he walked away from the wall and tapped Cabba on his left arm. “Did you get your reward for that stupid fight?”

“Yes, right here.” He took a small case from his pocket and hold in front of Asparus. “It’s a small disk, I can open the files once we are inside my space ship.” Cabba put the box back in his pocket, his gaze losing itself towards the clean sky.

“But?” Asparus asked it didn’t take much to see the hesitation on Cabba’s mind.

“I will get Caulifla first, and take her with me.” He turned his eyes back to stare at his friend. “Want to come with me too?” He asked, not too sure of the answer he will receive.

“Yeah, I will go with you.” The prince positive answer brought a relieved sigh out of Cabba’s mouth. “For the little I know your girlfriend, she will probably found a way of bringing Kale with her.” Asparus shook his head after his statement.

“You know that Kale can take care of herself, right?” The way that Cabba asked sounded more like a joke than a real question.

“Well, now I know that.” Asparus scratched the back of his head. “And yet I will keep worrying about her like you will worry about that muscle woman of yours.”

“Muscle woman, hm...” He is already used to hear Asparus talk about Caulifla like that, but, after their previous conversation about Kale’s Super Saiyan, this comment sounded a lot funnier to him now.

“What is so funny?” The prince got suspicious when Cabba started to chuckle by himself.

“Nothing, nothing. We should hurry up, Caulifla may not be in her house.” Forcing himself to not laugh, just made the situation worse, as Cabba is now laughing way too loud. ‘You are in for a surprise, buddy.’

With Cabba still smiling and Asparus now with a frown, both took off, going at full speed towards Caulifla house, far away from the capital city, in the slums.

 

* * *

“You know, I actually missed this flying bathtub.” Caulifla sat on one of the front seats, putting her feet on top of the control panel. “So tell me, where are we going?” She shot a glare at Asparus, who just entered the ship after Kale.

“What now?” The prince glared back at her.

“If you try to fly off alone with the ship, I will kill you.” She said while grinning, but her words sounded like she is really serious about this.

“Please don’t start you two.” Cabba has already noticed that Caulifla likes to argue with Asparus, almost as much she likes to tease him. Asparus looked at him with a face that clearly said, ‘She is the one that is starting it.’ And sat down at the back of the ship. “Let me put this on the console over here.” Cabba placed his right hand on one of Caulifla’s leg, gently pulling it off the panel.

“Hey, easy there lover boy.” She grabbed him by the waist and rubbed her cheeks against his covered belly.

“Come on, can you guys do that later? Preferable, alone in a room.” Asparus rolled his eyes at the scene. Caulifla let go of Cabba, sticking her tongue out to the prince. While Cabba continued to arrange the disk in silence, Kale was burning red with embarrassment, sitting alone in a corner.

“This is odd.” Cabba stared confused at the monitor.

“What is inside the disk?” Asparus walked to the front part of the ship.

“Coordinates, but this doesn’t make sense.” Typing at a really fast speed, Cabba put three new images on the big monitor. “You father said that the ship was lost in open space, but these coordinates point to a planet. See?” He pointed at one of the images.

“Maybe is a not mapped planet?” Caulifla said, tilting her head to the side to look at the images.

“It’s not that either.” Cabba started to type again. “Look, is a really important place on that part of the galaxy, it’s a planet with a big trading flow.”

“And how the hell a space ship vanishes without a trace in a place like that?” Asparus got closer to the monitor, reading the little text below the pictures. “Zirogane? That is this planet’s name?” He looked at Cabba.

“You got it right. Zirogane, the shining silver planet. I have been there one time.” The Saiyan soldier replied, with a nod of his head.

“Now that we got a destination, the time for little chat is over.” Caulifla spun with her seat. “Let’s go over there and beat up some bad guys.”

“As much as I hate to say this, I agree with her.” Asparus gave a quick and low sigh. “Zirogane it is.” He walked again to the back of the ship, but this time he sat beside Kale, she gave a quick glance at him, he smiled cheerfully and in response, she smiled back.

“I will fly us there the fastest I can.” Cabba took his seat next to Caulifla and started the ignition of the ship’s thrusters. In a matter of seconds, the vessel took off, disappearing between the clouds.

 

* * *

They departed from Sadala closer to midday, and now at a couple of minutes that are left to reach their destination, more than seven hours had passed. Caulifla is passed out in the seat next to Cabba, Kale is sleeping as well, resting her head on the shoulders of a much awake Asparus, the prince is looking at the lights passing by the side windows, his left arm is already sore with the weight of a sleeping Kale pressing against him, but he doesn’t mind in the least. Cabba being the one piloting the ship, is awake, but his eyes are getting somewhat tired and both of his arms feel numb by this point, yet, he keeps his wield of the ship's control, not stopping for nothing.

“There it is, I can see the planet over there.” Cabba glanced to his side and smiled at the sight of Caulifla still sleeping. “Caulifla… Wake up.” He tapped her softly in the arm.

She blinked a couple of times before straightening up in her seat. “Damn, I slept way too much.” Looking closer at the front window, she noticed the big planet getting closer and closer. “That is the first time I see a planet like that, it is really a planet?”

“Yes, it is.” Cabba chuckled a little at her reaction. “Wait to see after we land, even the trees have a metallic color.”

“Kale… you have to wake up too.” Asparus placed his right hand on her head, she was drooling on his shoulder as she woke up in surprise.

“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” With a face bright red, she started to wipe the wet spot on his shirt.

“Don’t worry about it, you were sleeping so peaceful. I don’t mind to be a pillow from time to time.” As he said this, Kale smiled but turned her gaze to the side.

“Get ready everyone, I will start the descent right now.” Cabba alerted them.

In a swift motion, the space ship entered the atmosphere of the planet, going at full speed in the sky. As the view started to clear up, they noticed that the famous trading planet is oddly quiet and feels rather empty. With a déjà vu feeling, Cabba piloted the ship looking for the closest city, but as he started to approach one, his heart began to ache with a heavy sensation that something is not right here.

 

* * *

“I can feel his ki, he is here.” Said a suspicious man, stepping on the edge of a building.

“You know that after teleporting you all the way from Sadala, I am almost out of energy, right?” Sitting in a corner, a shorter man said, with a brown coat covering his entire body and hiding his face.

“Don’t worry, we have a lot of our toys here.” The first one grinned.

“Another thing that drained my energy…” Said the second one, he looked at his partner with a wary expression. “Is this really necessary?”

“I apologize for my obsession with this Saiyan.” With an apologetic smile, the other walked away from his spot. “But we need to get rid of those Saiyans if we want to take control of this place, like our master ordered to.” He extended both of his arms and looked at his hands. “Imagine what we could do, when we get our prize.”

“That would make everything easier.” Taking a red orb from his robes, the smaller red-skinned alien stood up. “Since I am the one in control of our pets, I will be the one to greet our guests.”

“I will leave everything in your capable hands.” The tall man got his dark blue orb and pressed his fingers against it. With a flash of light, his size and skin color changed, turning him into a huge green alien.

With a smirk, the red one vanishes instantly to somewhere else, leaving his partner alone on top of the building.

 

* * *

“This place stinks of bad news.” Said Caulifla. “I can’t see anyone anywhere.”

“Most of the place is intact, but this silence is just like…” Asparus frowned and crossed both of his arms.

“Just like Udim.” Cabba said, continuing the prince thought process.

“Then Freeza is here?!” Caulifla smacked her fists together. “This time we are going to destroy him, right Kale?”

“Y-yeah.” Said Kale, her eyes looking to all the sides, trying to find anything suspicious.

“Look!” Asparus yelled, pointing his finger down at the street. “Someone is right over there.”

Cabba and Caulifla flew together to the person kneeling on the street. They landed far enough to not startle their target. “Are you okay? Something happening here?” Cabba approached first, reaching forward with his hands.

A sharp claw slashed right in front of his face, the stranger turned his gaze to him, his eyes red like they are on fire. He stood up, making the double of Cabba’s size, his clothes are all battered. Stuck in the middle of its chest, a red orb glows with a faint light.

Caulifla jumped in, kicking the alien in the head, sending it flying to the ground. “What the hell is wrong with you, attacking someone without saying anything?” She gave two steps forward but stopped as a ball of energy passed right in front of her eyes.

Two other aliens appeared from the side of a building, both with the glowing eyes and orb in their chest. The first one got up from the ground, reuniting with the newcomers.

“Who are those people?” Asparus joined his friends, with Kale by his side.

“I don’t know, but, I don’t remember seeing anything like them on my last time here.” Cabba took his battle stance.

“Those are my little toys.” An ominous voice spoke, it came from all the sides, making impossible to track its source. “I hope you enjoy a little play with them.”

With an incoherent screech, the beasts ran towards them, holding their claws up high.

“Asparus, with me.” Cabba shouted charging at the attackers, Asparus soon joined his side. Using his left arm, Cabba blocked the attack of two of them, Asparus jumped over him and kicked one in the chest, sending both backward. The third one rushed pass them, making his way to the girls. Caulifla took its attack head on and grab hold of its arm, she lifted him using both arms, tossing him to the ground.

“This is pathetic.” Holding one hand at it, she shot a big ki blast, evaporating the creature with ease. “Instead of throwing this trash at me, why don’t come out and fight yourself?” Caulifla shouted at the top of her lungs.

Cabba and Asparus quickly dispatched the other two, but, an extremely loud noise, got their attention. The windows and wall of one building exploded, a big pink creature jumped out of it. Its size alone is amazing, but to make it worse, it is extremely strong as well, with enormous muscles with pulsating veins.

“Don’t worry, I have quite a large collection of toys.” The strange voice spoke again.

After shouting like a rabid animal, the pink monster fixed his gaze upon Caulifla, he charged at full speed, tackling her with an absurd strength. Her body flew without control to a building far back.

“Caulifla!” Cabba made his way, charging without thinking.

“Wait!” Asparus charged after him, and with a jump, he grabbed Cabba’s arm pulling him to the side.

Another one of the pink monster fell from the top of a building, landing right where Cabba was running to. The monster placed itself between the two and Kale who is standing alone against the first one.

“Use your head, remember?” Asparus said to Cabba. “You were the one that said this to me.”

They stood up, glaring at their opponent, the monster did nothing, only stared back, while the other one was lashing out one attack after another trying to hit Kale. Asparus clicked his tongue, he wanted to run as fast as he could to help her, but he knew that that would not be possible with the second pink abomination standing in his way.

In an explosion of light, Caulifla exploded her way from the ground, destroying half of the build in her wake. In a flash, she jumped at the monster, punching him square on the face, the impact made him fall on his back, screaming in pain. She landed in front of him, glowing gold in her aura with flickers of light lashing out from her

“How does it taste to be attacked in a surprise, you ass.” She grinned with satisfaction.

The monster contorted its way back up, with a devilish smirk in his monstrous face. He ran to her, almost tripping in his own legs, with an arc motion, he swung his left arm at her, Caulifla blocked using both hands, the monster jumped, kicking her back. She slid through the street, her feet leaving a deep trail line on the ground. Changing his focus, he charged towards Kale pushing his fist forward in her way.

Kale shouted loudly, and the air around her exploded in green energy. She met the monster fist with her own, with the pressure coming from her strike, her opponent went sliding back in the same manner that Caulifla did, but going as far as reaching the other monster’s back.

“What the hell…” Asparus’ eyes glued themselves to the image of Kale, his mouth dropped so much that it almost fell off from his face. Her body is now much larger and her muscles way more defined, her hair is now golden with a slight tint of green. The golden aura around her is even more impressive than the one that Caulifla has.

“Any comments?” Cabba said with a slight irony in his voice.

“She looks so…” He stopped for a moment, his eyes admiring every aspect of her. “So cool.”

Cabba raised an eyebrow, he was not expecting this answer. “Seems like our friend over here wants to fight now.” He started to walk forward, as one of the monsters, who was impeding his way before, is now running towards them. “Let’s do this.” Cabba transformed into Super Saiyan, now dashing at his opponent. After the first impact, he locked himself in trading of blows against the creature, but his pace was much slower, making him take more punches than he was delivering.

“You have to use Super Saiyan 2 for those guys.” Caulifla yelled to him, as she and Kale were together fighting their opponent at the same time.

Following his girlfriend suggestion, he transformed into the next level, getting the upper hand once again. His agility gaining more ground in the fight, as the monster was now unable to land a single strike back.

“I can’t just stay here watching.” Asparus gritted his teeth and jumped at the monster as well. He turned his body in a quick spin, launching his right leg into the monster’s face. This proved futile, as he as grabbed by the leg, swung around and tossed on the ground in front of Cabba’s feet. “Dammit, I am not done yet.” He jumped back from the ground, latching himself on its neck.

Releasing an angry growl, the pink alien, landed a punch on his back, but Asparus took hold of its arm, and pressed it against the monster’s head, making a strange headlock.

“Shit, this thing is way too strong.” Cracking noises started to come from the monster’s muscle, especially in his locked arm. Asparus turned his head to the side, glaring at Cabba. “Finish this guy already.”

The Saiyan soldier nodded and put his hands behind him, concentrating a large amount of ki on them. “Drop dead, abomination.” He released a yellow wave of energy, aiming directly at the monster chest. After a little resistance, the energy wave blasted a big hole and passed through him.

As the monster fell backward, already dead, Asparus let go of him and jumped back to Cabba’s side. They turned back just in time to see Kale and Caulifla exploding the other one with a combined powerful ki blast.

“I dare say, that we make a good team, what do you think?” Lifting his left fist to Cabba, Asparus displayed a proud smile.

Cabba lifted his fist up, to meet his friend’s hand. But, a deafening sound exploded behind them, a gigantic shadow emerged from the ground. Big and sharp white claws ripped at Asparus’s back, his shirt tore into shreds and gushes of blood spread into the air. The creature opened his enormous mouth, revealing dozens of sharp twisted fangs as if it was just a normal breath, the monster fired a black energy beam at Asparus’s already flying body.

The prince went flying with the ki blast, crashing at a higher floor of a distant building, an explosion soon followed, blowing that floor into bits.

“Asparus!” Kale yelled in a frantic way, sticking her hands up, in the direction that the prince went flying.

The emerging monster came completely out of the ground. He is a giant lizard with grey scales covering his entire body, in his chest three red orbs glow with an unsettling light. In size, he is ten times bigger than Asparus, who is the tallest of the Saiyans in the group. His eyes are pure evil, glowing red with thirst for even more blood.

“I… I will kill you!” Kale body exploded in size and power, her previous golden aura turned into a full green and unstable one. She flew like a flash of light towards the lizard monster, with a loud shout she delivered a powerful punch on the side of its head.

Unfazed by the attack, the monster swung its tail at her, she disappeared again, and appearing in front of the monster stomach, she threw three punches, but each one did nothing more than create a wave of impact on the scales. In an irrational rage, she created a glowing green orb on the palm of her hand, from this orb several others launched themselves to the monster. Each one that hit him, exploded in an astonishing green light, making the scales crack open on different parts of the lizard body.

With an enraged screech of pain, the lizard jumped and grabbed the sides of one building, after one more madly shout, it jumped down at Kale, after getting closer enough, it breathed another blast of black energy, this time entirely concentrated at her. In defense, Kale made a green energy field around her, shooting a continuous energy wave towards the blackened ki blast.

“We need to help her.” Caulifla took off and tried to fly closer to the clash of energy between Kale and the lizard monster, but she ended up getting pushed back by the power of the two energy beams colliding.

With a swift swing of its tail, the lizard broke Kale’s barrier, but the resulting explosion made most of the scales on its tail broke down, revealing a light green skin. After longer and heavier breathing, the monster fired another dark energy beam, but this time twice as big, it hit Kale directly, pinning her down on the ground. Her hair returned to its natural color and her body began to shrink back too.

“KALE!” Caulifla in desperation flew at the monster, punching him in its head, on the same spot that Kale had punched before. She felt her fist getting numb, but the lizard paid her no mind and lowered his head closer to Kale lying on the ground. “Look at me, stupid thing.” She fired a big red ki blast on the monster’s left eye, he yelled loudly in pain and shifted his attention to the other Saiyan girl.

Throwing its arms upwards, the lizard slashed the air, his claws almost hitting Caulifla every time, it then jumped once again in one of the building, but, this time only bounced off it, charging directly at her. She focused her sight on the incoming claws swinging at her, as the lizard passed by her, she felt her back be pushed forward. With a quick glance backward, she saw Cabba pushing her away, as the lizard tail snatched him by the neck, pulling him down.

“Let me go, you dammed monster.” He gasped for air as the tail tightened itself more and more on his neck. He tried to scream in pain, but he was only able to release low anguished sounds, he punched several times the bare-skinned part of the tail, the monster reacted to the strikes that Cabba gave in his tail. As the previous times, at a single feel of pain the monster gets more and more angry, he lifted his tail up still holding Cabba and after reaching the peak, he brought it down on the ground, bashing Cabba’s body down on the street.

He lifted Cabba once again, but the Saiyan is already passed out, his hair back to the black color and his arms dangling to the sides like a doll. The lizard opened his mouth full, baring his fangs out.

“Let him go.” She kicked and punched the monster’s back while yelling and crying.

She heard the monster started to take a heavy breathe again, the startling noise of the energy ball forming in his mouth, made Caulifla jerk her head backward. The only thing now in her mind is the fact that Cabba is going to get killed, his body being blasted away by that black energy beam. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, her lack of power to help Kale, to help Cabba is driving her crazy. Her body started to twitch, a ki aura exploded around her, growing and growing without end, her voluminous spiky hair getting longer to the point of that started to reach her feet. Her legs, her arms, her chest, all the muscles in her body started to enlarge and tremble with power.

“I said to let go of him.” With all her strength she punched the lizard exactly in one of the spots where Kale tore off his scales. The impact of the blow forced the monster to release Cabba, as he went rolling to the sides.

“Cabba!” She flew and catch him on air, landing with him slowly on the ground.

“Ca… Caulifla?!” He opened one of his eyes and stared at her.

“We are going to beat that thing, I will show you.” She placed his head gently on the ground and stood up as the lizard got up from the ground as well.

‘You made it… You achieved Super Saiyan 3.’ He tried so hard to tell her this, but his mouth didn’t want to open anymore, his consciousness soon gave out too

“For hurting my friends, for hurting my Cabba. I will explode you to bits, stupid gecko.”

 The lizard dig his way inside the ground, vanishing from sight. It didn’t take long for him to appear behind Caulifla, slashing with his claws the same way he did with Asparus, she spun around grabbing his arm and throwing it to the side. She then jumped at him throwing a powerful punch at his face, her fist landed but did so on top of a scaled part, bouncing off without doing any real damage.

“This annoying scales, I will blow them away.” She made a giant ki orb on her hand and threw forward. The lizard ducked inside the ground once again, dodging her attack.

He appeared again, but now in another spot trying another one of its slash attacks, she blocked and threw another ki blast. In an ongoing repetition, they kept their strange fight were the first one to be hit by their opponent dies.

“Dammit, why I always ended up getting blasted off by someone.” Stepping on the wreckage of the building top floors, Asparus got a closer look on how the fight was going, Kale and Cabba were nowhere in sight, while Caulifla is fighting alone against the monster, but her hair is now way longer than it used to be, at least from what the prince could see from this far. “I hate this, I hate this.” He placed both hands forward, aiming at the monster, concentrating on his ki, a glowing silver ball appeared in front of him, as it grew in size, it became unstable and almost exploded before disappearing into nothing. “Come on… If with both hands is so difficult, this might help.” He now placed his arms to the side separated from each other. ‘Focus, you can do it, just focus.’ Two small balls appeared, one in each hand. Asparus started to breathe heavily, focusing only gathering his energy, both balls enlarged to be bigger than his hands, he then turned his gaze to the fight happening below. He waited for the right moment when the lizard ducked inside the ground and finally jumped out again to strike at Caulfia. “Now, eat this.” He pushed the two balls together and send the energy forward. The silver light cannon erupted from the building, flying down in a devastating way, erasing every bit of metal and building that it came across, it grew to a monstrous size. Lading right on top of the lizard’s back, Asparus’s attack, ripped apart its left arm and completely destroyed all the scales on his body.

After hitting his target, the prince kneeled forward exhausted. “That was awesome.” He looked at his hands, both trembling without control.

“Nice work, wimp.” Caulifla jumped on top of the lizard, who is now completely out of scales and with his left arm missing. “Now it’s time to blow up the rest of you.” She placed both hands on top of the middle red orb and released all of her energy in a giant ki blast.

As the light consumed the lizard, it let out an unpleasant cry of pain. After the light died off, there was nothing left of the monster.

 

* * *

“Unbelievable…” The green alien was astonished by the development of the last fight.

“They killed them… All of my most precious pets, all dead.” The small red alien appeared beside the other one.

“A small sacrifice, for the amazing discovery that we got today.” The other one glanced at his partner while grinning.

“We failed to capture that Saiyan Cabba, what are you grinning about?”

“Forget about him, we found an even better prize.” He laughed to himself. “With that kind of destructive power, we could challenge anyone in this universe.”

“And what will happen if she threw that at us?” Stopping his foot at the ground, the red one protested against the idea.

“She?” The taller one asked. “We don’t need the girl, our prize is even better than a common Saiyan.” He patted the other's one on the head. “And I already know exactly how we will enlist him to our side.”

“Care to tell me?”

“All in due time my friend.” He laughed again, but now even louder as if he had heard the best joke in his life.

 

* * *

Kale slowly opened her eyes, staring at a dark roof far above her head, she rolled her head to the side and notice that she is in a bedroom of some house, lying on a bed. The room is dark, even with the open windows. A couple of small lamps are lit providing some lighting to the place. She felt her body ache and throbs, she felt so heavy that was almost impossible to lift up from the bed.

“Easy there, your body must be hurting a lot.” A calming voice came from the left side, she looked around and saw Asparus sitting on an old chair close to the window.

“Are you okay?” She quickly sat down, intensely staring at him.

“I am fine, just got a few new scars, but nothing too serious.” He is shirtless but with a lot of white bandages wrapped in his chest. “How are you feeling?”

“Sis, Cabba, where are they?” Kale asked biting her lips.

“Calm down, they are in the next room.” Even after his answer, Asparus noted that she was still wary. “We still are in Zirogane, since you and Cabba were out cold, we decided to spend some time here in this abandoned house.”

“What happened?” Kale moved to the side of the bed, putting her feet on the ground.

“Well, to put it simply, Caulifla beat that monster and saved you guys.” He pressed his lips together and got up from his chair walking closer to Kale. “She was amazing.”

“Sis…” Kale expression changed to a more relieved one.

“Later you can talk to her about it, now you should get rest.”

“I-I am fine, really.” She smiled at him.

Asparus let a defeated sigh and sat on the bed beside Kale. “I used to play one of these a lot when I was a kid.” He looked at the metallic flute in his hand. “My mother used to sing a special song to me every night, so I learned how to play the flute to accompany her.”

Kale glanced at the instrument on his hands and then at him. “What was it like?” She asked.

He turned his head to her, holding a peaceful smile on his face. The prince took the flute closer to his lips and started to play a few notes, after performing a solid melody with it he let it go and closed his eyes.

 

_The cold breeze comes with haste_

_Night darkens the pallid sky_

_Soon my mind wanders alone_

_Alone in the darkest cold night_

_Stars shine with a beautiful light_

_A warm and_ _comfort sight_

_I plea for help, staring far high_

_Staring at the dark and cold sky_

_Oh sky, with your thousand bright lights_

_Bring me her back, take me back to her side_

_My heart trembles and aches_

_For I remember her smile, her sweet and soft lips_

_But now she is so far, somewhere I can’t reach_

_Oh sky, with your thousand bright lights_

_Give me a path, a way back to her life_

_Steps for steps, I walk in this road_

_My memories always on your words_

_They push me forward, straight without hold_

_With this, I hope for the day, that I meet you again_

_The night grows further, bringing its queen_

_The queen of the night rises at last_

_With glory and beauty, the moon guides my path_

_A path back to love, the path to our life_

_Oh sky, with your thousand bright lights_

_Bring me her back, take me back to her side_

_My heart trembles and aches_

_For I remember her smile, her sweet and soft lips_

_But now she is so far, somewhere I can’t reach_

_Oh sky, with your thousand bright lights_

_Give me a path, a way back to her life_

_I embrace the cold, my body falls down_

_My gaze meets hers_

_Her face shines on the moon_

_The tears of grief, the tears of love_

_Don’t cry my queen, for I fight and I live_

_For the day that we can finally, finally meet_

 

Asparus opened his eyes after the last verse, he found Kale staring at him, with tears in her eyes and holding her fingers tight. “It sounds more like a poem than a song, but, my mother always insisted that it was a song.” He placed the flute on Kale’s hands.

“But it is so sad.” She said looking down at her hands. “He was alone waiting for his lover.”

With a quiet chuckle, Asparus placed his hands on top of hers. “The part of our lives where we find ourselves alone is always sad and rough.” He looked directly at her eyes. “But I like to imagine that he found his love. What do you think?”

She stared at him in silence, her focus going from his eyes to his lips. Kale felt her heart beat so fast that she was afraid it would going to stop at any time. She leaned forward pressing her lips on his chin. Asparus smiled at her failed attempt to kiss him, and lifted her head a little with his right hand, he then kissed her lightly on the lips.

“At least, I am not alone anymore.” He said before kissing her once again.

Kale placed both of her hands on his backs, embracing him tightly as they kept locked in an innocent kiss. ‘And I am happy that I found you.’ She thought to herself, with tears flowing down on her face.

* * *

 

 


	8. Chapter 7 - Moonlight Wandering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.

* * *

 

Feeling sore in his entire body, Cabba slowly started to open his eyes. A big headache made he clench his fist as he tried to lift his head, he then felt a weight on his belly. With a bit effort, he turned his gaze downwards and saw Caulifla, sleeping on his side, her head resting on his bed while her arms pressed against his body.

Cabba lifted his right arm, placing his hand carefully on her head. His fingers slowly and affectionately danced on Caulifla’s hair, the soft feeling on the palm of his hand was rejuvenating, like all the pain of his body are starting to fade away just from touching his loved one.

With a low voiced moan, Caulifla waked and turned his head to Cabba. “Hm…? Are you awake already?” She asked still sleepy.

“Good morning or Good night? I don’t know which is.” Cabba laughed and that made his body twitch in pain. “Dammit, even to laugh hurts.”

“Then don’t laugh, dummy.” Caulifla smiled and straightened herself on her chair. “You gave me a really big scare you know, you just laid there hardly breathing, and I was really scared.” She clenched her fist as tears formed on her eyes.

Cabba tried to stand up, but the pain shot him right back down, without other options, he took Caulifla’s right hand with both of his hands. “Sorry for worrying you, when I noticed that thing’s next attack, I just moved without thinking.”

She just nodded her head, wiping the forming tears from her eyes.

“I saw you before I fainted.” Cabba said. “You made it; you finally became Super Saiyan 3.”

Caulifla said nothing only stared at him, her expression ever changing from proudness to happiness and then remorse. “I lied, you know.” She said.

“Lied? About what?” He said concerned.

“I don’t care about Super Saiyan 3…” She stopped for a moment and looked away. “I mean, I do care, but, you are my priority, my number one and only priority.”

Cabba never witnessed this side of her, a vulnerable and overly sweet side of Caulifla. Her face so pure and her voice failing and trembling. He felt so overwhelmed, that he pulled Caulifla to him, ignoring the pain in his arms, he lunged himself into embracing her. “How can you be so cute?” He whispered in her ears.

She returned his embrace, kissing him on his neck. “Shut up, I am not cute.” She said, hiding her blushing face from him.

“I know.” Cabba pushed her away just enough to look at her face again. “You are the coolest Saiyan to ever exist.” He smiled with pride.

“Now you sound just like Lettu.” Her embarrassment vanished and in turn, she stared at Cabba with a burning desire to be with him.

“What?” Cabba recognized these eyes of her, his heart started to race as he retreated a little bit.

She mounted on his bed, approaching him slowly. Biting her lower lip, she advanced little by little leaving no room for Cabba to escape. “I love you.” She said, making Cabba almost pass out again, overflowing with emotions and the sudden passionate kiss that she gave him, everything spun around in his vision. ‘I love you too.’ He tried to say, but his lips are stuck against hers, in a seemingly never-ending kiss.

The sound of someone knocking on the bedroom door made both depart from each other. Soon after, Asparus entered the room. “I heard voices, so I decided to check up on you.” He said looking at Cabba, who is blushing on the bed.

“Thanks, I am fine now.” Cabba smiled, still blushing but gaining his composure back.

“Nice timing, dumbass.” Caulifla shot glares at the prince.

“Sorry, but Kale went to sleep again, so I thought that it was a good time for us to do that.” Asparus responded in a calm manner, surprisingly not giving in to Caulifla’s provocations.

Caulifla gave a slow sigh and got off from Cabba’s bed. “I suppose so; the mood is already gone anyway.”

“Do what?” Cabba asked, lost to words to the sudden friendship between her and the prince.

“We are gonna look around, and see if we can find that prick who never showed up.” She answered as she walked towards the door. “You follow Kale’s lead and go to sleep too. I will make sure that no one finds you two here.”

“Worry not my friend. I will keep your girlfriend safe.” Asparus grinning waved his right hand to Cabba.

“Shut up.” Caulifla yelled and shut the door with force behind her.

“Just be careful you two.” Cabba spoke to himself, as Caulifla and Asparus had already left the room. With his body charging its toll, he laid back on the bed again, and with all the fatigue pilling up, he fell asleep quickly after.

“Is that really necessary?” Asparus said, scratching the back of his head.

“Stop complaining and help.” Caulifla hissed as she pushed another piece of wall in front of the apartment front door.

Right after exiting their little hideout, Caulifla started to pile stuff in front of the door, she made such a big mess that it was almost like the door doesn’t even exist behind all that clutter.

“Okay, that should do it.” She wiped a sweat drop from her forehead.

Asparus nodded with his head and walked past her, which made Caulifla began to walk as well. The Saiyans flew off from the building from a big hole that was blown open during their battle with the giant lizard; this little exit was in one of the highest floors on that building. They landed on the ruined street of the silver city.

“Now what?” Caulifla asked, zooming her sight all across the building around her.

“We should take a look on those creatures over there.” Asparus said, pointing forward.

First, they checked on the remains of one of the small aliens that were closer to them, Asparus noticed a glimmer of light coming from the ground, he reached for it and pulled a small red orb back.

“This was in his chest, right?” Caulifla asked pointing at the orb.

“Yeah, all of them actually. Look, that one has it too.” He dashed at one of the pink monsters dead on the ground. “The orb on this one is broken, but part of it is still here.” He put his left hand on the hole that Cabba tore on the monster’s chest, part of the gem was still stuck on its flesh.

“You think that is important?” Caulifla kneeled beside him, pulling the broken orb out and holding on her hand.

Asparus kept quiet, looking intensely at the orb on his hand. “I have a feeling that I had seen this before.” He said more to himself than to his companion. The prince tore apart a big chunk of his blue shirt, which made Caulifla stand up and raise an eyebrow at him. “This should do the trick.” He wrapped the piece of cloth around the small orb covering all of it. Holding his hand up, he placed the orb against the bright moonlight.

“What are you doing?” After being ignored, she started to get annoyed and raised her voice.

“Unbelievable.” Asparus said. “Look at this orb from over here.”

She kneeled again and did as he told her. With the light of the metallic moon coming from behind it, the orb glowed a little, sometimes in its normal red color, but from other angles, it changed a bit to a more blue tone of color. “You know how to do a cool little trick, what of it?” Caulifla said.

Asparus sighed and shook his head in disappointment. “This orb is very similar to the one that Henkanegi carries around; looking at it with similar color, leave no doubts to me.”

“You think that he knows something?” Caulifla said and looked again at the orb on his hand.

“I don’t know, but, he is way too strange for my taste.” Asparus turned his eyes to her. “You didn’t see it, but, he fought with Cabba and transformed into Super Saiyan 2, not only that, he made it look easy too.” He stood up and put the orb on his pocket. “I can’t transform, heck, I can’t even control my ki properly, but, I imagine that to achieve Super Saiyan is quite a feat. Then why he never showed this before?”

“Did he win?” Caulifla asked harshly.

“What?” Her question confused Asparus.

“Cabba beat that freak, right?” She asked again, but even more fiercely.

The prince released a short sigh but smiled a bit at her interest on that topic. “Yes, he destroyed the guy. It was not even close.”

“Of course he did.” She said, beaming with pride.

“Yeah, you didn’t sound so sure a while ago.” His little joke earned him a scowl from her. “Say, in that last fight, the way you looked. What was that?” He asked with respect in his voice.

“Super Saiyan 3?” She tilted her head to the side.

“Gods, now that is a Super Saiyan 3? How many numbers are left on that?” Asparus took a hand to his face and laughed a little.

“Don’t know, but I will get all of them.” She said with pure honesty.

Asparus laughed, for the first time, the prince was feeling comfortable talking with Caulifla. “I have to admit, you are not the disaster that the soldiers say you are.” He gave her a questioning look. “A little wild and rude, but, I don’t think that you are a bad person. Well, I don’t think that anymore.” He chuckled.

She stared at him with a frown, but with no hard feelings on her gaze.

“With that being said, I have to ask. Why did you choose to be a criminal?” He asked with a serious expression. “You’re strong and fearless, could easily be an elite soldier like Cabba and have a good life. So why be a criminal?”

Caulifla gave an annoyed sigh and looked away from Asparus. “I can’t stand those guys on the army and I would never serve a king who doesn’t give a crap about the poor people in the slums.” She looked back at him, seeming a bit more composed. “I can see that you are being strangely nice, so I will try not to smash you too badly, but.” She walked close to him pushed him back with her right hand. “You live there on your pretty and clean palace, with not a thing to worry about; while a lot of people struggle even to find something to eat.”

Her sudden outburst shocked Asparus, Caulifla’s words have shaken him more than she imagined. “I didn’t mean to…” He lowered his head, shifting his eyes away from hers.

“Yeah. Not everyone thinks about the poor people.” Caulifla kicked a pebble far away, venting her anger. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. We have a bad guy to find and standing here is not gonna help with that.”

In an awkward silence, they proceeded with their hunt. Caulifla taking the lead, while Asparus follows her a couple of feet behind. ‘I know that you are not your father, so don’t take this too personally.’ In her mind, Caulifla had said this, but her lips kept closed, pressing hard against one another, not a word coming out of her mouth.

 

* * *

The first rays of sunlight started to illuminate the room, as the sun tip raised furthermore behind the buildings. Cabba woke up, as someone began to make quite a few noises outside his room, he noticed the absence of pain that he felt before his sleep, and yet, his body feels somewhat numb, making a bit difficult for him to stand up. Struggling in his way, Cabba got off the bed and walked in a slow pace to the bedroom door, as he opened the door, his eyes immediately caught the sight of Kale, trying to open the front door of the apartment.

Kale felt a presence behind her and turned back, as she saw a dizzy Cabba staring at her, she nodded her head and stopping pulling the doorknob. “G-Good day, I didn’t notice you there.” She saw Cabba stagger forward, so before he could fall on the floor she grabbed him with both hands. “Are you feeling okay?”  Her worried voice came out even louder than she expected it would.

“Sorry.” With one hand, Cabba gently pushed her away, getting in his feet again. “Just feeling a little tired.” He then quickly looked around, as if searching for someone. “Are they not back yet?”

His question made Kale show a more relieved expression that soon after changed to a more confused one. “No, they are not here.” For a moment she looked as if she was about to cry. “I waked up and didn’t find anyone, so I got really worried and tried to leave, but the door won’t open.”

He realized why she was so disturbed when he walked out of his room. “You know that we would never leave you behind, right?” Cabba walked closer to her, putting one hand on her shoulder. “Neither of us could leave a friend behind.” His leg gave out for a moment, which made Cabba fall on top of Kale in an awkward hug. She yelped in surprise but hesitated in pushing him away, after seeing the painful look in his eyes.

“Maybe we should sit down.” Kale helped Cabba standstill again and guided him to another room. A small dining room with two tables and six chairs placed around them. On top of each table sits a couple of orange-colored jars, with some sort of ration inside, being it for decoration or to eat, neither of the young Saiyans knew for sure.

Cabba looked at one window at the wall far to the right and yawned while admiring the sunlight. “Maybe I slept too much.” He said almost to himself. “But I still feel so bad that I could sleep for two days straight.”

Kale stared at him, frowning and biting her lower lips. “Do you know where did they go?” She asked Cabba frantically. Her honest concern was starting to pass up to Cabba, who was getting more and more concerned himself by the second.

“Caulifla said that they would go after the guy who was controlling those things.” His voice faded by the end of his sentence, as he noticed Kale’s eyes staring at him with a bit of anger.

“That is too dangerous.” She said in a more assertive way. “What if, there is more of those monsters out there?” She closed her eyes and her hands started to tremble. “What if there is more than one of that giant lizard?”

“They were the ones that defeated that giant monster, so they can handle it if another one appears.” Even Cabba himself did not believe his speech. The thought of Caulifla facing another one of those creatures made his body shiver and his fists clench hard enough to make a cracking noise. “The only thing that we can do now is to believe in them.” He finished.

Kale just nodded with her head, she kept looking down without saying another word.

“I told you that this was too much, now how the hell we are going to enter?” Both Cabba and Kale got startled as a voice came from outside the house.

“If you shut up and help me dig this dump out, then we would be able to enter.” Caulifla’s voice came after. Kale got up from her chair and darted to the entrance hallway. Cabba slowly made his way after her.

They stared at the door, as many noises came from the other side of it; suddenly a loud crash sound ceased all the movement. After a brief silence, Asparus’s voice erupted in a fit of laughter. “I-I can believe that you dropped everything on top of you.” He continued to laugh to the point of losing his air.

“Arhhh, Screw this.” Caulifla angrily yelled and unleashing her ki, she blasted all the clutter away, dropping the front door on the floor. She stomped her way inside, giving taunting glares to the prince walking behind her. “Oh. Hi, you two.” She quickly noticed Cabba and Kale looking at her, both with their mouths open and rendered speechless.

“Well, they are awake already, that makes things easy.” Asparus said.

The two arriving warriors are in terrible shape, Caulifla has a lot of bruises and wounds on her body, the same with Asparus, but most of the back of his shirt is drenched with blood. They looked exhausted, Caulifla tries to shrug it off, but her breathing is heavy and fast, while the prince is a bit more composed, even with his tired eyes seaming somewhat distant at times.

“You guys look awful.” Cabba playfully said in a joke. “So what happened, did you find him?”

“Not even close.” Caulifla responded angrily with herself. “There are a lot of those pink things out there. The further we walked, more of them appeared.”

Asparus walked pass her and raised his voice. “But interestingly enough, these other ones were a bit more feral and less coordinated. We can assume that whoever controls them, was not giving orders anymore.”

“So he is gone.” Cabba could not hide the disappointment in his voice.

“Yes, and we should get out of here before more enemies appear.” Asparus crossed his arms and looked over to the exit. “We don’t know how long it will take for them to find us here.”

“And like I said so many times. I can take on all of them; we don’t need to run like cowards.” Caulifla protested loudly at Asparus suggestion.

“Look at you woman, you can barely stand.” Asparus rolled his eyes, as Caulifla growled at him. “Understand this, those things are animals, they don’t understand honor or anything like that. Save your strength and energy to fight the culprit behind their actions, for fighting his minions will accomplish nothing.”

“He is right.” Cabba jumped in. “I think we need to stop rushing towards them like this. They can make a repeat of last time and blow this planet like Uldim.”

“Whatever you say.” Caulifla gave in but was not very pleased with it. “Let’s go then.” She walked to Cabba and embraced him by the side, putting his left arm over her shoulder. “You don’t look so good. I will help you walk to the ship.”

He looked over at her face and smiled tenderly, he put the weight of his body against her to help his feet on its steps forward. Together they left their hideout and jumped off the ledged, were Caulifla flew both to the ground far below.

“Oh no.” Asparus arched forward, putting his hands on his chest. “Looks like a need some help to walk too.” He lifted his head a little and peaked at Kale with his eyes, a huge smile in his face.

At the first moment, the Saiyan girl rushed over to him but rapidly noticed his smile. She then giggled and put her right hand forward, close to Asparus.

“Well, that can do too.” He straightened himself and grabbed her hand with his left one. Holding their hands together, they both followed Caulifla and Cabba, making their way to the spaceship.

Even with all the noise, she was making, Caulifla quickly collapsed in one of the back seats, after entering the ship, snoring in her sleep. Kale sat beside her, holding her hands together while Cabba and Asparus started the ship’s engine.

“Are you sure about this?” Cabba asked.

“Don’t worry, I can do it. You look like you need some more rest.” Asparus said, seating in front of the main console.

“Yeah, but you look even worse.” Cabba’s eyes darted to the wounds on the prince back and the tiredness of his eyes.

“If I rest right now, it feels like I will never wake up again.” Asparus said joking. “It’s a simple job, you three just rest, while I take us home. If anything happens I will call you.”

“Alright, alright. You win.” Cabba sat on the seat to the left of Asparus and gave out a long breath. “Today was a rough day… That guy is probably working with Freeza.”

“Seems likely.” Asparus said as he made the ship took off to the skies, leaving Zirogane behind. “Our mission is getting more and more complicated. This sucks.”

“It really does.” Cabba stared at the stars outside the window. “And is getting out of hand, maybe we need to talk to the king about putting the whole force on it.”

Asparus twitched in his seat and turned his head to Cabba. “I don’t like this idea, you heard him last time. You really want to go back to him without getting this Freeza?”

Cabba remembered the king’s word from their last meeting and shook his head. “No, but what choice do we have?”

“Don’t know, but trust me, if my father gets involved in this, it will get way more complicated.” Asparus put one hand on his left cheek, caressing the tape with his fingers. “His method of dealing with situations is very passionate, to say the least.”

“If going back to him is not an option, then, going back to Zirogane later is the only thing that we have.”  Cabba said.

“Maybe, but let’s think about this another time.” Asparus waved his hands, shooing Cabba away. “Right now you should sleep.”

Cabba looked at the back of the ship, where Caulifla and now Kale is sleeping. “I am glad that we brought them with us.” His voice carried a certain amount of tenderness in it.

“Without those two, we would be dead right now.” Asparus agreed with him, smiling at the sight of a sleeping Kale. “I am especially grateful to Caulifla and her Super Saiyan 3, but don’t tell her that.”

“But I will.” Cabba grinned at the prince. “Is very nice to see you two getting along, it bring tears to my eyes.”

“Blah… Go to sleep before I throw you out of the ship.” Asparus rolled his eyes away from Cabba. However, was still carrying a big smile on his lips.

“As you command, captain.” Cabba rolled over to the side, making himself comfortable in his seat. It took no more than a few minutes for him to fall asleep too, leaving Asparus being the only one still awake in the vessel.

 

* * *

After a boring day of listening to reports and formal duties, the queen took a stroll to the far gates of the palace. As she walked, the soldiers saluted her presence and admired her pristine figure; however, her eyes were focused only on finding signs of her son. Luckily, she spotted an old acquaintance of her.

“My queen, good evening to you.” Greeno greeted her, bowing his head. “Lovely time for a walk, wouldn’t you say?”

“Sure it is.” She smiled at the soldier and nodded in response. “Why don’t you accompany me in this walk?”

“It would be a pleasure, my lady.” Greeno extended his left hand to her. She placed her right hand on top of his, holding it with more strength than the soldier expected.

They walked together around the edges of the palace wall while looking at the city buildings a bit far in the distance. At various points, Greeno almost dropped tears from his eyes from the honor and proud that he was feeling.

“When did you turned in such a soft person?” The queen asked him, with a smirk on his lips.

“If my person changed in any way, is all because of the prince’s influence over me.” His answer was clear and fast.

“You like that boy that much, huh?” She stared at him, directly at his eyes.

Greeno’s eyes shinnied at the mention of Asparus. “He is like a son to me.” He said, with a lot of emotions in his voice.

She raised an eyebrow at him but smiled tenderly. “He is your nephew, so is almost the same thing.”

“I concur with you wholeheartedly.” The soldier patted himself on the chest.

“Well, talking about him, did you see Asparus today?” She shifted her attention back to the city. “Every day he takes longer to get home. Something is fishy here.” The smile on her face resembled one of a mischievous child.

Greeno took a step back, not liking the new topic of their conversation. “I am sure the prince has an important reason.” He said unsure of the Queen's reaction.

“Not buying it.” She pouted like a little girl. “He is probably with this Kale girl.” She grabbed his left shoulder. “Help me find him; I am really curious about this girl.”

“Arula… I don’t know about this.” His tone of voice changed to a more casual one. “I love to know most things about my nephew’s life, but this is a bit too much. This girl is the first person that he shows genuine interest on.”

“Exactly, that is why I need to see this girl.” She spun around and giggled. “You can’t say no to your little sister, and you know that.”

“Now you are my queen.” He tried to push her away, but nothing seemed to faze her. “Come on Arula, you have to act more mature someday.”

“Someday, but not now. Let’s go, let’s go.” She pulled him with her towards the city.

“Fine. I will show you where she lives.” He finally gave in.

“And you said that you didn’t look out for information about her.” She laughed at her brother. He hid his face from her and started to fly away. She followed him, giggling happily at the little journey ahead of them.

 

* * *

Like the previous times, when Cabba’s ship landed on the spaceport a familiar soldier Saiyan was waiting for him right outside.

“Cabba! Good evening, boy.” Beano greeted him at the first sight of the young Saiyan soldier.

“Good evening, Mister Beano.” Cabba responded in a friendly manner. Caulifla came right after him, stopping by his side. Kale and Asparus disembarked too, all stopping by Cabba and Beano side.

“Say Cabba, what about that dinner you owe me?” Beano grinned at Cabba, holding his hands together.

“I would love some grub.” Cabba opened his mouth, but Caulifla beat him to the answer.

“Yeah, some food would be great.” Asparus said as well.

“Dinner it is then.” Cabba scratched the back of his head.

“Greeeaaat.” Beano ran over to Cabba, he launched his left arm over Cabba’s shoulder and began to pull him away with him towards the city center.

“Let’s go you two, he is stealing Cabba away.” Caulifla chased after them, yelling back to Kale and Asparus.

“Come Kale, they will run away from us.” The last two left made their way after the others, but at a slower pace, walking beside each other.

Beano dragged Cabba all the way to the same restaurant he took Champa, but this time nobody ran away in fear. At first, the soldier tried to interact the less he could with Caulifla, to not end up making a scene, but as the time passed on, the old man softened up to her, forgetting all about her bad reputation. The two of them shared a common habit of teasing Cabba to no end, with almost drove the young Saiyan to insanity, he begged for help with his eyes many times to Asparus and Kale, and yet, they just ignored his situation, having their dinner quietly with one another.

“Hahhh… I am full.” Caulifla threw her back against her seat, juggling her arms around in satisfaction.

“Free food is the best kind of food.” Beano grinned at Cabba.

“I know that I owe you, but wasn’t this a bit too much?” He stared at the various empty plates on their table.

“You think this is too much?” Beano spouted out. “You had to see how much Lord Champa and that angel lady ate. It cost me almost half of my salary.”

“Sorry about that, it was an emergency.” Cabba realized how fortunate he was for not accompanying Champa that day.

“Don’t worry kiddo.” The old man shrugged it off. “Having this amazing company for dinner was reward enough.” He got up from his seat, patting his belly happily. “It’s about time for me to go, thanks for dinner Cabba, and it was nice talking to you all.” Beano winked at Caulifla and then smiled to Cabba.

“You are not too bad, old man.” She waved as the old soldier made his way out.

“I think is time for us go, too.” Cabba got up from his seat. “Kale, are you sure that is all that you want? You can order anything, my treat.”

“T-this is enough. Thanks.” Kale nodded to Cabba and held tight the packed dinner on her hands.

“Be right back then.” He made his way to the counter, taking the giant bill with him.

“What are you grinning about?” Asparus noticed the strange glances Caulifla was giving to Cabba’s back.

“Tonight he is not going to escape me.” Her small smiled turned in to a full evil grin. She continued to stare at Cabba with hungry ferocious eyes.

“Gods, I don’t know what you mean by that… But, poor guy. With that look on your face, he is probably not going to survive the night.” Asparus genuinely felt sorry for Cabba, for the soldier doesn’t know what awaits him tonight.

After settling the dinner’s bill, Cabba walked his way back to his friends. They walked together outside the city center when they split on their paths. Caulifla and Cabba walked their way back to her house, while Asparus and Kale flew together to her house on the slums.

 

* * *

“You know, there are quite a few good guys on the defense force.” Caulifla said, closing the front door behind her.

“We are the good guys.” Cabba said. “Our job is to fight against evil.”

She shook her head to the sides. “That doesn’t make you good, but that is a chat for another time.” She ran towards him, pushing him to a closed door. “You go take a bath; you are smelling of sweat and dirt.”

“Not fair. I didn’t get a chance to clean myself, of course, I will smell bad.” He lifted one arm and sniffed himself trying to find the bad smell she was complaining about.

“Less talk, more getting in the bath.” She turned him around, pushing him inside the bathroom.

“Jeez, okay.” Cabba followed her orders and walked a few more steps inside the room.  He waited her close the door to start taking his clothes off. In a swift action, he disposed himself of all get-up, dropping them on a corner of the floor close to the sink.

He got under the shower and let the hot water drop on his body, he felt stings all over his bruises as the water poured over them, but the warm temperature made him relaxed and forget about anything else. Cabba was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the bathroom door open and a naked Caulifla sneak her way behind him.

“Is the bath good for you?” She whispered in his left ear, making Cabba jump forward hugging the wall.

“CA-CA-CAULIFLA?! What are you doing here?” His eyes almost jumped out of its sockets.

She took the soap from the shelf on the sidewall and started to slide it on her skin. “Taking a shower, of course.”

Cabba fought in his mind the hardest he could, but his eyes didn’t obey him anymore as both remained fixated on Caulifla’s breasts. She noticed his struggle and smirked to herself.

“Why don’t we clean each other?” She pressed herself against him, pushing her breasts on Cabba’s chest. “I heard it feels really good.” Her voice getting more and more arousing.

She started by passing her hands on his back lathering from his shoulders to his butt. By this point, Cabba had already stopped resisting her advances and instead, hugging her back with his eyes closed. “If you don’t make any moves, I will start to get more aggressive.” She whispered in his ears again and slid her right hand to Cabba’s front part. She raced her fingers on his waist and slowly made her way down, she felt his whole body tremble as he grabbed his stiff member.

“Wow, it is a lot bigger than I expected.” She said with a lustful smile on her lips.

“How can you say things like that with a straight face?” Cabba buried his burning red face on her hair.

“I’m doing nothing, just cleaning you up.” She laughed at her own remark and started to stroke him slowly.

Cabba jerked back as a jolt of pleasure ran through his body. “Wait, Caulifla that is too much.”

“Just cleaning, just cleaning.” She pressed on, now going even faster.

“If you keep rubbing it like that, I will…” Cabba lunged forward, pulling her hand away and, gripping her by the waist. He pushed Caulifla against the wall under the running water of the shower. He kissed her with such passion that made Caulifla gasp in surprise; he ran his hands from her hips to her legs, grabbing both of them, lifting Caulifla off the ground. His eyes locked themselves back to her breasts; his desire for her flew off control as he took one of her nipples to his mouth. As he passionately bit it, Caulifla moaned in pleasure, grabbing hold of his hair by reflex.

“You like them that much?” She said as her voice failed a little to come out.

He didn’t answer and only buried his head further on her.

Caulifla took a moment only to stare at Cabba, he was like a different person, so assertive and aggressive. She bit her lips in excitement seeing this new side of her lover. “Enough of foreplay, time for the real game.” She bolts herself forward, bringing Cabba to the ground, she fell right on top of him, exactly like she wanted.

With a quick hop of her hips, she mounted herself properly on top of Cabba. “I have been waiting for this for a long time now” She bent over to him, planting a kiss on his lips. “I love you.” In a slow and sexy movement, she started to slide his member inside her.

Cabba rolled his head to the side and grabbed fiercely on her thighs. He dug his fingers deep on her skin, and the further he slid inside her, more heat he felt on his whole body. His breathing began to waver and his mind to lose itself in pleasure. “Caulifla, Caulifla.” He repeated her name many others times, almost as he couldn’t think straight anymore.

She began to move faster and deeper, pushing herself and Cabba to their limits, she placed herself completely on top of him, never stopping the movement from her hips, she took his mouth in a wet and long kiss, bringing his tongue out with hers, both twisting in a heated exchange.

“Caulifla, I am about to.” Cabba broke off from their kiss; his breathing became more and more heavy.

“Don’t think about it, just let it happen.” She gasped and her body twitches. “Let’s enjoy ourselves together.”

In one last deep trust, Caulifla felt something explode inside her body, as her senses overwhelmed her as a whole. Her mind went blank for a second, she fell on top of Cabba, exhausted and panting.

Cabba took his hands to her face and lifted her enough to kiss her again. “You’re amazing, you know that?”  His voice came out shaky, as he too was out of breath.

“I know.” She said with a big smirk on her lips. She pulled Cabba to an embrace, that to them, felt like an eternity.

 

* * *

“Dad, I am home.” Kale announced her presence, as she opened the front door.

An old man came running out a room, his eyes widened as he saw his daughter enter the house. “Kale my girl, where have you been?” He bent his head to the side a little and noticed a tall young man right behind Kale.

“Hm… Hi?” Asparus said awkwardly.

“Dad, this is my friend. Asparus.” Kale walked in, making room to Asparus to enter. “He walked with me home.” She said blushing.

“A friend huh…” The older man measured Asparus from head to toe. “What are your intentions  with my girl, mister friend Asparus.” He walked closer to Asparus and tapped him on the chest. “By any chances, do you want to steal her away from me?”

Asparus looked at Kale confused but quickly returned his eyes to her father. “You are absolutely right, sir.” He smiled genuinely. “I want to steal Kale all for me.”

“NOOOOOO.” The old man yelled loudly. “I knew this day would come, but so soon.” He twirled around the front entrance make his own little show.

“Please you two, can you stop with that?” Kale hid her face behind the package on her hands.

“But my sweet Kale, what is life without some fun.” Her father turned to her, smiling cheerfully. “Come inside, mister daughters thief. Is a bit chilling outside.”

“You father seems fun.” Asparus said to Kale.

“You bet I am.” The old man said.

Kale looked at the two men joking with one another, which bring a happy smile to her face. “Dad, I brought something for you.” She gestured to the package on her hands. “I will put it on a plate.”

“It is good?” Her father’s eyes brimmed with excitement. “Let me help you.” He walked inside one room.

“I will be right back.” Kale said to Asparus and then followed her father to the same room he had entered.

After being alone, Asparus started to notice the house around him. He had walked her home one time, but this is his first time looking at it from the inside. The house looks so small, even with the little furniture that they have, the place seems a bit cramped, he noticed that it had a couple of other rooms on the house, but, judging from the view outside, everything was even smaller than the living room. Caulifla’s words from before came back on his mind, hitting him hard, this was a common situation on the slums and he lived all his life oblivious to this. Asparus felt his heart hurt like never before, he didn’t want to, but he started to feel pity on Kale.

“Hey mister Asparus, what are you doing standing over there?” Kale’s father returned alone from the other room.

“Please, don’t need to call me mister.” Asparus gave a weak smile to the man. “I am the younger one here; it feels strange to hear that.”

“So, Asparus. Come, sit here with me, son.” The old man sat on a wooden chair across another one.

The prince followed his suggestion and sat in front of him.

“Kale never brings anyone over, so I have to ask. Who are you exactly?” His wrinkled eyes darted across Asparus clothes. “I never saw anyone from here wearing something so fancy. Are you a soldier?”

Many thoughts crossed Asparus’s head, how would her father react if he finds out who Asparus is? He took a deep breath and looked directly at the older man’s eyes. “Well, my name is Asparus, like Kale said before… And I am the prince of Sadala.” Asparus tired eyes closed for a moment, not focusing on anything.

“Hahah, you have a good sense of humor, I give you that. But I am being serious here, who…” His laughter died, when he noticed that Asparus was not joking with him, the seriousness on the prince’s eyes sent chills to the man’s spine. “You are the Saiyan prince?” He asked.

“The one and only.” Asparus said, now with a smirk on his face.

The old man jumped out of his chair, staring at Asparus in panic.  “Excuse my rudeness, my prince.” In his eyes, Asparus recognize an incoherent fear, like death itself was in front of him.

“You have nothing to apologize for; in fact, I appreciate your hospitality even with me coming over at such late hour.” Asparus words seemed to calm down Kale’s father.

“Pardon my sudden reaction. It’s my first time seeing someone from royalty.” The older man returned to his normal way of speaking. “But, your highness, I need to alert you, don’t let anyone else hear about this, people on the slums don’t like the king.” He sighed, showing a bit of anger on his face. “A lot of people blame your father for their poverty. And to a certain point, I agreed with them.”

Asparus shrank in his chair, the guilty and sadness on his eyes were painful to see. “A king should never turn away from his people.” Asparus said. He then clenched his fists in anger. “No matter the reason.”

“Maybe one day you can be the king that we need.”

“Me? King?” Asparus looked at him dumbfounded. “That is ridiculous; my father will never accept me as King.” Asparus gave in weak laughter, more of an act of nervousness than anything else.

“Don’t take me too seriously, my prince.” The situation became a bit too awkward for both of them. Asparus was tired and wanted to interact normally with Kale’s father, but as soon as the older man discovered his title as a prince, he became way too tactful and afraid of insulting someone so important.

“Kale sure is taking some time in the kitchen, I will check up on her.” With a weak excuse, the older man made took his leave.

“I don’t want to be a king…” Asparus muttered to himself, holding both hands tight.

Kale was coming out of the kitchen with a bowl full of a hot soup that she brought from the restaurant, and she saw her father walking her way with Asparus still being in the living room, sitting alone in one of the chairs.

“Kale, my daughter. Why did you not warned me that he is Sadala’s prince?” She never saw her father panicking so much in her life. “No, forget that. Why is Sadala’s prince here?”

“He is my… friend.” Kale response felt a bit unsure, as she herself didn’t know if they are friends or something more.

“By the gods, and how that happened? I don’t see people from royalty walking near the slums.”

“I-It’s a long story.” She looked at the bowl in her hands, avoiding her father’s gaze. “Here dad, it’s better to eat while is still warm.” She handed over the dinner to him and walked away with some urgency, making her way to Asparus on the living room. “Dad didn’t say anything strange to you, did he?” She asked the prince but received no answer from him. She stared at his back slowly moving as he breathed, his head leaning to the side and noticed his eyes closed as he slept on the chair.

“He is sleeping on a wooden chair? That is not very royalty of him.” Her father commented as he took a sip from his soup.

“He must be tired.” She said, placing one hand over his head. “He didn’t sleep all day, even after all that, he still brought us back in the ship.”

“You can put him on my bed. I will work something out for myself.”

“But we only have two beds.” She said with a concerned look.

“You are not suggesting that we put him to sleep with you, are you?” The older man stared at her raising an eyebrow.

“No! Not that.” She shook her head with force, blushing with just of the thought of them sharing a bed.

“And we can’t have a prince sleeping on a chair, so my bed it is.”

“I-I understand.” She said calmy again.  “I will help him get there, you enjoy dinner, father.” Kale grabbed Asparus by the arm, and yet he didn’t wake up. His weight made her tilt a bit to the side as she lifted him with her.

“You know, he seems like a good kid to me.” Her father said, looking at her with Asparus leaning on her shoulders. “Now I am a little scared of him, but, I still think that he is a good kid.”

Kale looked down at the drooling Asparus, she never got the chance to look at him like this, so peaceful and defenseless, as the normal Asparus always pose with a sarcastic humor or an ironic personality. Looking at his features from so close, she noticed how handsome he truly is.

“Yeah, he is a good person.” She took him to one of the side rooms and placed him on a large simple bed. From the look on his face, he would not be waking up so soon.

 

* * *

With a terrible headache, Asparus walked up in a strange bed in a place he doesn’t recognize. ‘Where the hell am I?’ He heard some voices coming over from the other room. Multiple people are talking and laughing. Carefully he walked towards the door, and placed his head close to it, after getting so close, he could hear properly their conversation. Kale’s father was making a huge commotion to appease someone and a familiar voice talked after commending his efforts with many compliments.

“No way…” He opened the door slowly, not believing what was happening in the living room.

“Ah! Asparus my beautiful son, you are finally awake, I see.” All the color from Asparus’s face disappeared; he was hoping this was a dream or a nightmare. “I looked everywhere for you and look who I found instead. This charming lady and her polite father. Fate sure is a funny thing, I am right?”

“MOTHER?!” The queen’s face was pure and honest, but Asparus know her all too well. With her eyes, she was taunting him and measuring Kale’s every movement.

“Yes, son?” She said with a pure smile on her face.

Asparus agitated morning is just on the beginning.

* * *

 

 


	9. Chapter 8 - Fun Times Ahead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.

* * *

 

Cabba slowly opened the front door of his house, he stepped inside quietly, since still is the beginning of the morning, he didn’t want to wake up anyone. With a few steps more, he noticed the sound of water splashing on some plates, coming from the kitchen.

After entering the room, he saw his mother washing the dishes from yesterday. She turned her head to him, giving him a soft smile. “Where have you been?” She said without stopping her chores.

“I had to investigate something, but I still didn’t find what I wanted.” He responded with a disheartened nod. “But at least I found some clues, though.”

His mother finished drying the last plate on the sink; she put the dishcloth on her shoulder and walked closer to Cabba. “Are you hungry? Have you eaten anything?” She asked, placing her left hand on his right cheek.

“I’m fine mom, thanks.” He smiled at her. “I had dinner with some friends yesterday, after returning to Sadala.”

She frowned her forehead, giving him an odd look. “If you were back yesterday, why haven’t you came back home?”

“I spent the night at Caulifla’s house.” He said in the most innocent way he could. “Sorry mom, I will just go to my room, I am so tired and sleepy right now… I could probably sleep on the floor.”

Cabba’s mother stared at him, with her mouth open and eyes glittering. “How come you are sleepy? Didn’t get any sleep last night?” She smirked at her son, hitting softly his left arm with her elbow. “Anything you want to say to mommy?”

He finally noticed his slip up, his face turned red as his mother started to relentless ask one question after another. “Mom, please.” Cabba hid his face behind his hands. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

His somewhat denial made her jump even closer to him. “Hum… You did something that you can’t tell me?” Cabba’s mother said in a teasing manner.

“Ok, I am going now.” In a fast pace, Cabba walked his way to the stairs. “You can have your fun, but I will not say anything.”

“Then I will ask Caulifla, she is such a sweet and straight-forward girl, she will tell me everything.”

‘In what did I put myself into?’ Cabba cursed his large mouth as he climbed the steps to the second floor.

 

* * *

Asparus sat on top of the balcony wall. He has been sulking alone since his return from Kale’s house, after the agitated morning that his mother provided.

He tried his best to get the queen away from the poor Saiyan girl, but his mother was fierce and insistent on her inquiries. Even Kale’s father got his own share of interesting questions and comments from the Saiyan queen. When the ordeal had finally come to an end, Asparus was less than pleased with his mother and ignored her the whole way on their trip back to the palace.

“For how long are you going to stay there, ignoring me?” The queen said. She was sitting closer to the inner wall, beside the door back to the building.

Asparus tilted his head a bit to the side, he considered for a long time before responding to her. “You asked Kale if she liked money… I can’t believe you.” He gave out a long sigh as he returned his gaze back to the city far away.

“I only asked if she likes money, because if she wants to be a queen that is an important thing to know.” She said without much thought.

“What? Is important to like money if she wants to be a queen?” Asparus jumped back to the balcony floor, he waved his head to the sides in anger. “That is stupid, Kale is not like that, and she doesn’t want to be a queen or anything like that.

The queen stood up too, and with fast steps, she placed herself in front of him. “No, what I wanted to know is if she would be honest in her answer.”

“With all the twenty questions that you asked her?” The prince retorted with a frown.

“Yes.” Her answer was cold and short, but soon her lips parted in a warm smile. “But, she passed the test.” The queen proudly announced, putting her arm on her hips. “That girl is so shy and honest, that I almost felt bad for her.”

“Then why you kept pressing her on it?” Asparus threw his arms up in annoyance.

“No, no. I can’t be careless when the matter involves my baby.” The queen squeezed Asparus’s left cheek. “But, is all good now, I quite like your girlfriend.”

“And she probably will never speak to me again.” He said with a concerned smile.

“Nonsense, I see no reason for that.”

“Again, you asked her father, if he would mind moving into the palace.”

“A perfectly normal question, if you ask me.”

“I can believe that Greeno led you there. Later I will have some words with him.” Asparus walked back to the balcony’s end and jumped on top of the wall.

“Where are you going now?” She asked

“To a place where I can have a normal conversation.” The prince took off and flew at full speed towards the city.

“That is so rude, I am your mother.” The queen yelled at the top of her lungs, but her words probably didn’t reach her son.

 

* * *

Cabba shuffled around in his bed, after a few hours of sleep, he felt rejuvenated like never before. With a quick motion, Cabba jumped out of his bed wearing nothing more than his boxers, he went straight to the bathroom across from his room and after brushing his teeth and washing his face, Cabba decided that was time for some breakfast.

Feeling bold as never before, he decided to go downstairs only in his underwear. Last night for sure was a special night, and right now Caba doesn’t have a single care in the world. His pace was fast and proud; it took only but a few seconds for him to walk to the kitchen.

“Good morning, handsome.” Caulifla said as she devoured him with her eyes.

“Well, that is not something that I was expecting.” Asparus eyed his friend and gave him an awkward nod with his head.

All the confidence the young soldier had, instantly disappeared and his face turned bright red. Cabba jumped back and hid beside the doorway. “What are you two doing here?” Cabba flustered yelled from the hallway.

“What are you talking about?” Caulifla said as she bent to the side with her chair, trying to get another peek at Cabba. “I am always here, even more to lunch.”

Asparus who was sitting on a chair directly across Caulifla around the big table gave out a snort after the ridiculousness of the scene finally got to him. “I came here to talk with you, but, I ended accepting your mother’s offer to have lunch here.” Asparus said laughing at Caulifla almost falling on the ground.

“Cabba, what are you doing naked down here?” Cabba’s mother entered the hallway with many grocery bags, with Lettu accompanying her, carrying his own share of bags.

“Mom, no, that is not like it seems. I…” Cabba tried his best to come up with a reason, but his reasoning was already far gone. “I will put some clothes on.” He dashed so fast to the stairs that Caulifla and Asparus could only see a blur passing in front of the kitchens door.

“Wait, big brother.” Lettu shouted with a lot of energy. “I can help you find your clothes.” The little boy ran inside the kitchen and placed the bags on top of the big wooden table as fast as he could, then he bolted towards the stairs, going after his brother.

“Maybe I should help him too.” Caulifla said, with an evil smirk on her lips.

“And kill him with embarrassment?” Asparus said in remark of her suggestion. “Give the guy some slack.”

“After last night I don’t see a reason for him to be embarrassed with me.” She said innocently in a sarcastic way.

“Too much information…” Asparus placed his head on top of the wooden table and covered his face with both arms.

Hearing the conversation of the young Saiyans, Cabba’s mother stepped inside the kitchen, with her eyes shining with interest. “What is this about last night?” She said happily. “Caulifla, my dear. Tell me everything.

Caulifla laughed at the older woman’s interest, but she quickly started to disclosure the story of her time with Cabba. Asparus only grunted in annoyance, as he was not in the least interested in his friend’s love life, especially this part.

“What is happening here?” Cabba now fully clothed, with a light blue shirt and pants of the same color, entered the room with Lettu right behind him. He noticed Asparus lying with his upper body on top of the table, covering his ears with his hands.

“Cabba… Help.” The prince slowly wiggled his way out of the table and grabbed Cabba by the shoulders.

Lettu skipped forward, looking at Asparus face and then glancing to two Saiyan women. “Mom, Sis Caulifla, why did you make Wimp sad?”

“Wimp is very sad, Cabba’s little brother.” Asparus said with a disheartened voice, prompting both women to laugh at him.

“We are just having fun, sweetie.” Cabba’s mother said with a cheerful smile.

“Yeah, we are just talking about fun times.” Caulifla winked at Cabba.

“C-Caulifla… What fun times?” Cabba felt a cold sweat run on his spine.

Asparus winced at the mention of said fun times. “Please, give back my innocence.”

“You didn’t.” Cabba looked back to Caulifla with a terrified expression.

She returned his gaze with a smirk. “Is not a big deal, and we are just having fun.” Caulifla turned her head to Cabba’s mother and winked at her too.

“No, you didn’t.” The young soldier in despair took both hands to his head. “T-That is not something you share around… And especially with my mother.” He turned completely red and started to flip his hands in the air.

“Hey now. Why shouldn’t I get to know about this?” His mother protested. “As your mother, I have all the rights to know about your life.”

Cabba said nothing in return; he just stared at the scene, dumb folded.

“Whoa, good morning.” Cabba’s father appeared right behind him in the kitchen’s entrance. “This is quite the commotion for such an early hour.”

The prince walked pass Cabba and looked directly at the older man’s eyes. “Help…” Asparus’ voice came so faintly, that almost no one could hear him.

“The Prince?!” Cabba’s father jumped back in surprise. “Why is the prince here? What is going on?”

“Actually we are talking about Cabba’s special night.” His wife clapped both hands together in happiness.

“Hey, it was my special night too.” Caulifla gave a fake embarrassed smile.

“No, no and no. I am not going to stay here for this.” Cabba grabbed the sobbing prince by the arm and started to drag him out.

“Wait, I still didn’t eat.” Asparus said, recovering his lost voice.

“I will buy something for you on the way.” Cabba yelled with his voice cracking. As the prince finally gave out, Cabba pulled both of them out of the house the fastest he could.

“My boy still is so cute.” Cabba’s mother said laughing.

“I know, right?” Caulifla nodded with her head.

 

* * *

Like any other day, the king of Sadala spends his early morning in his office, reading the reports of his many soldiers and at a time of crisis such as it is now, his work is piling up even more. With the sound of the doors opening, he showed a small but genuine smile on his lips.

“Where have you been this morning?” The king said without taking his eyes off the papers on his hands.

The queen closed the door behind her and walked forward in a hurry, quickly reaching the big metal table. “I was searching for Asparus’s girlfriend.” She leaned down, taking the papers of her husband hand. “And guess what, I found her.”

The king eyed her, raising one eyebrow. In truth, he was not in the least interested in Kale, but he always found hard to no indulge his wife in anything that she wanted. “How it turned out? Did you make her cry?”

Arula pouted at his words, but quickly started to babble about her discoveries. “At first, I was not too sure about the girl, but she didn’t waver at any time.” The queen walked around the desk and pulled the king’s chair back. Like a lazy cat, she sat on his lap, wrapping her arm in his chest. “Even being so shy, she answered all my questions.”

The king smiled and started to run his fingers on her hair. “Is that so?”

“But Asparus is mad at me now.” She looked up with puppy eyes. “He even left me talking by myself.”

“He would never stay mad at you, he is just shy. Give the boy some time, he is sure to come back to his mother.”

Queen Arula giggled and brushed her face on the king’s hand. “You know what? I like her.” She backed a little bit and stared at her husband's black eyes. “I will have to work a lot on her, but she would be a lovely queen to Asparus.”

“First work on making the boy into a king, then worry about a queen for him.” The king said, in his normal harsh way of talking.

Arula smacked the back of his head and gave him an angry look. “That is your job, not mine.”

“Sorry, Ma'am.” He rubbed the spot where her hand hit. “But Asparus doesn’t make my work easy, he is just too stubborn.”

“Then be more than him. What kind of king are you, if you lose to your own son.”

“Right, right.” He sighed and glanced upward to the ceiling. For a moment, his mind wanders in his memories to the times were his son was just a little baby; the times when he could openly show his love for his son. ‘Everything was easier back then.

“What are you thinking about?” She has known him for enough time to notice when he is lost in his thoughts. However, every time he shows a troubled face when thinking about the past. It pains Arula, but she knows that she is the reason behind this.

“It is nothing, now let me focus on this, I have more and more reports piling up on my desk, by the end of the day It will be even more.” He placed his hands on her hips and helped her stand up. “I just hope that this crazy chain of events ends soon or we will have a lot of trouble in the future.”

She quietly walked to one of the chairs in the corner; she then dragged the chair with her and placed by his side. “I will help you then.” Giving just a smile as a reply, the king resumed his work, now, with his wife by his side.

 

* * *

Asparus nagged like a little kid about missing lunch, Cabba took him to a small restaurant on the edge of town, since is such an isolated place, no one there recognized the prince, making their lunch a very peaceful time. After eating they walked to their usual training ground, but without any motivation, on Cabba’s part, they only rested there, sitting on the dirty ground looking at the cloudy sky.

“Why were you so pumped about, that you came to my house to tell me about it?” Cabba asked, still no looking at Asparus directly. The events of this morning are still very vivid on his mind.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that.” Asparus jumped off the ground and started to do squats out of nowhere. “I have a nice surprise to show you.” With a smirk, he walked a bit forward leaving Cabba behind him.

‘What is this about?’ Cabba only watched his friend, who after creating a small distance between them, turned around and gave a thumbs up.

“Since you were knock out cold, you didn’t get to see this.” Asparus raised both hands, each away from the other. “So keep your eyes opened, because this is awesome.” With a deep breath, the prince started to gather his ki on the palm of his hands; it took mere seconds for two silver energy balls to form on his hands. With a fierce shout, he shot both hands upwards meeting both balls together, the silver energy merged together, forming a powerful stream of light. This energy wave flew at an incredible speed towards the sky after the tip of the beam disappeared behind the clouds, it exploded into a giant orb of light, bright enough to be seen from the other side of the planet.

After the explosion finally died out, the sky was completely clear, with all the clouds pushed away, the sun was now shining rays of light on them.

For a moment Cabba stood there speechless, he was stunned from the massive power of that attack and the fact that Asparus was the one who used.  “You did it.” Cabba jumped off the ground. “You finally did it, you controlled your ki.”

“Hell yeah, I did.” Asparus beamed with pride as he made his way back towards Cabba. “What do you think? About my attack, I mean.”

“Impressive, to say the least.” Cabba took one more look at the massive clearing at the sky, the sight made him smile. “Now we can start doing a real training.”

“Wait, wait. Before that, help me name it.” Asparus felt embarrassed by his own words, but he did not back off. “I want to shout something cool like you do with your Galick Ho.”

Cabba laughed at the prince’s idea, but had to admit, he kinda liked shouting the name of his attack, it was a unique experience every time. “Sure, let’s think about something for you.”

Asparus clapped both hands together in contentment, and then he proceeded to think long and hard about a new name. “What about Ultimate Destroyer Cannon?” His eyes sparkled with excitement.

“What? That is something a little kid would say.” Cabba snorted in disapproval, crushing the prince’s enthusiasm.

“Supreme Cannon of Light?” This time Cabba only frowned at him, making the prince low his shoulders in rejection.

“Taking into consideration the color of it and your unexpected love for cannons, I think Gin Taihō* (銀大砲)is a good name for your attack.”

“I liked it. It is like yours, but better.” Asparus laughed to himself, very pleased with the new name Cabba suggested.

Seeing the sudden burst of happiness and animation on Asparus's part, raised Cabba’s spirit as well, and making him completely forget his traumatic events. “Sure, sure. Now let’s put this silver cannon to test with real training, what do you say?”

“Not a bad idea.” Asparus cracked his fingers. “But this time, I will be the one winning.”

“I would not count on that if I were you.” Cabba assumed his battle stance. Following his friend's movements, Asparus did the same, and after a brief moment of pause, they engaged in close combat with ferocious speed.

 

* * *

 Kale spends most part of her day helping her father at home after he went away to work in the afternoon, she went out too. She sensed Cabba’s ki explode in power and someone else together with him, this second ki was ever so familiar, yet so different from anything she remembers. Kale decided to check the place from where this energy came, and since Cabba is fighting, Caulifla is probably with him too. Maybe she would even find a certain prince with them.

Flying at full speed, Kale felt herself getting a little excited, an unusual thing for her. Little by little, Asparus was beginning to change her, she never felt anything like this before, but now, she is irradiating with happiness with just the thought of meeting with him. At first, she didn’t know what to do in his presence, he is always so straight forward and sometimes way too sarcastic, however, Kale grew attached to his voice and fierce eyes. Now every day is a fun experience for her, and most of that is because of him.

After passing through the limits of the city, Kale could already see the dust coming from an isolated place. ‘Isn’t there where that Cabba and Sis trained with me?’ Now somewhat relieved from her discovery, Kale pushed herself, even more, to get there the fastest she could.

A giant explosion welcomed Kale to the scene; her eyes glanced over to the destroyed plain fields and noticed two Saiyans fighting each other. Cabba and Asparus both looked very bruised and battered; Asparus’s shirt is almost completely gone, ripped apart in various parts. Cabba’s clothes were in slightly better shape, but in his back, a giant hole is open in his shirt, showing his bleeding back. The golden hair of Cabba’s shined at every strike he gave, in contrast, Asparus’s silver ki got as much attention from Kale’s eyes, every time he shoots it. Both warriors continued to trade attacks one after another, Cabba was holding a big advantage over Asparus, however, was impressive how much the prince could trade back with Cabba in his Super Saiyan form.

“Now this is over.” Asparus jumped back holding his hands to the sides. “Gin Taihō!” With a loud shout, Asparus released a furious wave of silver energy.

Cabba slid with his knees on the ground, passing directly below Asparus’s attack; he then jumped to the side getting a clear view of his target. “Gallick Ho!” The purple ki wave hit directly at Asparus torso, blasting him off to a cliff way far back.

Cabba skidded a few steps backward, huffing heavily. “Damn... That was close.” He stared without blinking to the spot where Asparus landed after his Galick ho.

“He is getting stronger, right?” Kale’s voice came right behind Cabba.

“Ohgodswhy-who?” Cabba yelped, startled at Kale’s sudden appearance behind him. “Kale… Don’t just show up behind other people, you scared the crap out of me.”

Kale giggled shyly at his surprise. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” She glanced over to the hole Asparus ended up in. “But, I think he is getting stronger every time I see him fight.”

“Tell me about it.” Cabba sigh, but a smile showed up in his bruised lips. “The guy is like a machine, even before being able to use his ki he could take quite the beating, now he just doesn’t stay down no matter how much and how strong I strike him.”

Without any stamina left, Asparus slowly dug his way out of the hole he made on the cliff. He scanned around with his eyes and quickly noticed Kale standing beside Cabba, the prince immediately rushed his way down towards them. Midway in his track, Asparus stopped and took a hand to his left cheek, he stood there for a few minutes, not moving an inch and just staring down at the ground in panic.

“What is he doing?” Cabba said with a snort.

“Is he hurt somewhere?” Kale on the other side started to get worried about his strange behavior.

“Maybe? Don’t know, he seems fine to me.” Cabba walked towards him, raising his right arm. “Hey, are you okay?”

To Cabba’s surprise, Asparus turned around, after noticing his friend getting closer, hiding his face from him. “I am fine, just stay there, please.” Then, he tore a small piece of cloth from the remaining of his shirt and hold it with his left hand, pressing it against his cheek. “I am good now.” After that, he approached the other two Saiyan normally, but still holding the cloth very close.

“What was that about?” With a raised eyebrow, Cabba smirked at him.

“Don’t mind me, is just something silly.” Asparus brushed off the question and quickly changed his expression to a frown. “You cheated.” The prince said. “Super Saiyan, really?”

“Is not my fault that you can’t transform.” Cabba smiled mischievously. ‘I don’t even want to imagine how you would do with Super Saiyan.’

“That bad attitude from Caulifla is rubbing off on you.” Annoyed at Cabba’s reasoning, Asparus wanted to punch him again, but he definitely does not have the strength to another punch. “So, Kale how did you find us here?”

“I felt Cabba’s ki increase rapidly, and I thought he was fighting some enemy again.”

“Huh… So you came to save him?” With a not very pleased face, Asparus stared at her with a cold gaze.

“N-no, I thought you might be with him, a-and then I ended up coming here.” She said stumbling in her words, almost panicking.

“So you came here to save me?” Now Asparus’s face was radiant with happiness. “That is so sweet.”

“Wha… I will go home now.” Felling a bit uncomfortable, Cabba slowly started to ascend into the air. “Would not be good to stay in the way of you guys flirting.”

“Wait, what about the mission and Zirogane?” Asparus stopped him midair.

“We can talk about that later. Now I just want to take a shower and sleep again.” With a subtle head nod, Cabba pointed to Kale and grinned at Asparus. “See you later Kale.”

“B-bye…” She replied.

Soon after, Cabba disappeared between the clouds, leaving Kale and Asparus by themselves.

“So… How is your father?” immediately after saying it, Asparus hit his forehead with his free hand. ‘Really? How is your father? Nice one, me.’

With a slow tilt of her head, Kale eyed him, she noticed the prince slightly blushing and that made her laugh. “He is fine. I never saw my father so happy when going to work. You see, it was the first time we saw the queen, he felt very special after her visit.”

Seeing that Kale continued their talk, even at the strange choice of topic, made Asparus let out a sigh of relief. He felt a sharp pain in his legs and in conjunction with all the fatigue that built in his body, the prince’s legs gave out, forcing him to sit on the dirty ground. “I know that is a bit late now, but… I am sorry about my mother.”

“Huh? Why are you apologizing?” Kale sat at his side, brushing some dust from her shirt.

“Well, she just showed up, ordering you and your father around, asking strange questions. Anyone would hate that.” Asparus glanced to his side, his eyes focusing on her right hand, sitting very close to him.

The Saiyan girl dangled back and forward, grabbing hold of her legs, putting it close to her chest. “When she showed up in our door with a scary guard at her side, it startled me.” Kale rested her head on top of her knees, keeping her eyes on Asparus. “I just kept thinking; What is the Queen doing here? Are we in trouble?” After a brief pause, she smiled. “But after talking with her, I felt just special… Just like my father.”

Asparus eyes widened in surprise, for all that he knows Kale would be angry with him, but the, in the end, she was just amazed to be her eventful morning. Asparus stared at her, his eyes melting over her; he just could not believe how sweet this girl is.

“I love her.” Asparus broke the silence again. “I love my mother with all my heart.”

“Hm…” Kale restrained herself from saying more. She knows that he was not done talking.

“Since I was little, my father pushed me around while nagging me about getting stronger and being a proper king.” He frowned and shuffled the fingers of his right hand restlessly. “My mother was always kind, not letting my father forced me to train all the time. Any time I found myself in a bind, I ran crying to her.”

Kale giggled unconsciously, she hid her lips behind her hand. “It’s hard to picture you crying.”

“Not that hard. I cried all the time back then.” Asparus winked at her, giving her a silly smile. “One day my father convinced mother that I needed to control my ki, that it was a wasted gift if I could not control it.” Asparus bit his lower lip, with a pained expression showing up in his face. “I know is kind of hard to miss it, but, did you noticed that my mother doesn’t have the left arm?”

Kale nodded in response, she shifted her eyes to the other side, for some reasons she felt uncomfortable, and almost spectating the next part of the story to be a sad one.

Asparus lips started to tremble, his mouth was dry and a sudden sting on his eyes made him swing his head to the side. “I lost control that day, I couldn’t… I couldn’t control it. A bright light exploded around me and everything seemed to disappear.” All his body tensed and he closed his eyes in an old and never-ending grief. “When I could finally see again, she was laying on the ground, her clothes drenched in blood. M-My father lost it, he yelled her name, again and again, I was so scared, I tried to run towards her, but my legs didn’t move an inch…

Kale felt tears form in her eyes, as she stared at the prince. Never Asparus seemed so hurt, so sad, he was like a lost puppy. “Asparus…” She slid her hand closer to him, but in reflex, he jerked his body away.

“After that, everything went white… I remember staring at the ceiling with a terrible pain in my face.” Asparus dragged his eyes to Kale’s. He noticed her hand getting closer and closer to him. “When I waked up again, I was on a hospital bed… Now I have this forever with me.” He slowly slid his right hand down, carrying with it the improvised piece of cloth.

Kale gasped as she saw a big-burned scar on Asparus face. After wondering so many times why he uses a tape cloth on his face, she could finally see the part that is always covered. Kale felt a bad taste overtake her throat. For a moment she imagined, Asparus as a child, getting hit by whatever made that scar on his face, she closed her eyes as if she felt the same pain he did on that day. “What happened?” She mustered her voice to ask.

Asparus shrugged off with his shoulders. “Father blasted me with a ball of energy. I think he blamed me for mother losing her arm.”

“It was not your fault.” Kale yelled angrily. “I do not believe it was your fault…” She said again, now with a calmer voice.

“All in all, it doesn’t matter anymore.” He said in a sad voice. “Mother’s days as a warrior was over and I was the one who did it.”

Kale ignored her shy persona and finally grabbed hold of his hand. “Do you hate him?”

Asparus looked at her, surprised with her question. “Never did.” He smiled at her. A fake and sad smile. “I disagree with father a lot, but I would never hate him.” Asparus followed the gaze of Kale’s eyes, she stared at his scar, making him very conscious. He then hid it again with his right hand. “I am sorry for babbling about this… and for showing you an ugly thing.”

Kale reached for his hand and pulled it to her. “Don’t apologize and don’t talk about you like that.” She pulled him closer to her and touched her forehead with his own. “I am happy that you decided to share something so important with me.”

“Thank you, Kale.” Tears started to flow from Asparus eyes, but in his lips, he held a very happy smile. “Know what, not everything was just sad and depressing back then.” Asparus tried to cheer up the mood. “I kept training even without my father. Remember the soldier from this morning?”

Kale nodded with her head.

“Since I was a kid, He was at my side, helping me train and get my studies right.” The prince pushed Kale down, resting her back on the ground. “Sheesh, this is getting way to awkward, now is your time to say things about you.”

Kale shook her head, hiding her face behind her hands. “No way. I am not gonna.” She started to giggle, as Asparus was not stopping his requests anytime soon.

 

* * *

Cabba entered his house, feeling tired as ever. His mother and his brother bombarded him with questions because of his bruised body and ruined clothes; he calmed them and made his way to the second floor, dying to enter the warm and refreshing water of his bathtub. Without a care or thought in his mind, Cabba dashed across the hallway passing in front of his bedroom without giving it a glance.

“Jeez, I am sad now.” Cabba heard a feminine and very familiar voice coming from his room. “Passing right through me and didn’t say anything?”

He stopped in his tracks but did not turn to look at her. “I am still mad at you.” His voice came dry and low.

“Oh no! My Cabba is mad at me?” Caulifla walked slowly to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. “But why for?”

“You know perfectly why.” He hissed at her, turning his head to the side evading her eyes. “Saying those, those things to my mom.”

Caulifla whirled around Cabba, placing herself in front of him. The smile on her face was so wide that irritated the young Saiyan even more. “Don’t be silly. The only thing I told her was that you are so caring and sweet, and how happy I felt last night… with you.”

He eyed her, his face lost in confusion. “But Asparus was dead on the table, asking for help.”

Caulifla laughed loud and heavy. “For someone who talks big, he is very innocent.” She threw her arms around his neck. “I was talking about our first kiss and the guy just covered his ears and blushed like a maiden.”

“Really?” Cabba snorted, raising an eyebrow.

“You bet. The look on his face was so funny, so I just kept at it.” Caulifla pulled him with her and smiled at him seductively. “Hum… Let’s take that shower, shall we?”

Hot red on the face, Cabba pushed her away carefully. “Are you crazy? Everyone is downstairs.”

“What about it? No one will see if we go fast.” She winked to him making Cabba blush even harder.

“Gods, Caulifla. You don’t have any shame?” He rushed towards the bathroom door, not letting her inside with him. “No is no.”

“Stingy.” Caulifla stuck her tongue out, making an annoyed face. “Then, I will wait for you in our room… N a k e d.” She smiled one last time to the blushing Saiyan boy who got so flustered by her words that almost closed the door on his hand.

‘I love this woman so much, but she will be the death of me someday.’ For the rest of his time in the bathroom, Cabba could not for his life, take the mental image of a naked Caulifla laying on his bed.

His, supposed to be, relaxing bath time turned to be a lot shorter and agitated than he expected to be.

 

* * *

Asparus sat comfortably on his favorite spot, on the palace main balcony. A few drops of water still drips from his wet hair, after the bath, the prince felt his whole body hurt like never before, and yet, he never felt so good. The sensation of Kale’s hand pressing against his own, it still very vivid on his memory. A shy smile appeared on his lips, with his mind reliving the pleasing evening he spent with Kale.

“You look very happy, my prince.” Greeno entered the balcony with a tray on his hand. “May I ask what happened?” The soldier placed the tray on Asparus’ side. He brought with him a varied amount of snacks and fruits.

“You may ask, but I will not say anything.” Asparus quickly started to stuff his mouth with food.

“I will not pry then.” Greeno bowed his head and prepared himself to leave.

“Could you tell mother that I am back?” With some food still in his mouth, Asparus called the soldier before he could leave.

“The Queen was very worried about you. She will be pleased that you want to talk to her again.” Greeno gave a reassuring smile to his prince. “Now, may I ask why the sudden change of heart?”

“You may not.” Asparus looked at him with a serious expression.

“As you wish, my prince.” The older Saiyan took his leave without another word.

‘I trust and like Greeno very much, but he is very daring sometimes, especially when it involves mother… For a normal soldier, he is strangely close to her.’ Asparus eyed suspiciously the empty doorway, imagining what is inside the soldier’s mind.

“A-Asparus.” The prince jumped back after someone called his name.

He looked up and got chills on his spine. Kale is floating right above him, wearing a very serious and sad expression on her face. “Kale? What are you doing here?” He glanced everywhere, searching for any sight of the royal guard.

“Asparus, I need you… I need your help.” Kale jumped down on him, embracing him with her tears wetting his new shirt.

“Shhh… I am here Kale.” He embraced her even harder. “I will help you, with anything.”

She lifted her head, pressing her lips against his left ear, her breath made his whole body shiver. “I need something from you.” Kale pushed him back just enough to look at his eyes. “Don’t die.” Her face twisted in a perverted smile, her eyes sparkled with malicious intent.

“Kale?” Asparus’ body jerked back as a beam of light tore a hole on his side. The taste of blood filled his mouth, he fell into his knees and his sight was starting to give out.

“Pretty please, don’t die.” A sweet and caring voice escaped Kale’s lips, but her face is now, more twisted than before. With a swift movement of her hand, she shot another beam of light onto him, blasting half of the balcony away, making Asparus fell unconscious down below on the royal garden.

Kale took a blue orb from her pocket and as it started to shine with a bright light; her body changed getting bigger and more muscular. After the light died out, Henkanegi stood where Kale once was, he dropped down to where the prince fell and grabbed him by his shirt. “I got him. Take us out of here.” A red and dark light engulfed both Asparus and Negi, twisting the very space around them. With an explosion of energy, they vanished, leaving behind only the trails of the destruction of this short encounter.

* * *

 

 


	10. Chapter 9 - A Strange Duet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.

* * *

 

Cabba rolled comfortably in his bed; once again he had a very pleasant night of sleep. After passing his hands on the empty space, he caught himself wishing that Caulifla was still there, but he doesn’t have the courage to sleep with her in his house, with his whole family being there.

A silly, but very real idea crossed his mind, that maybe it is time for him to get a house of his own. ‘Ah… No money for that just yet.’ Pouting at his own thought, Cabba rolled to the other side of his bed, almost embrace the spot where Caulifla had lied close to him.

“Big Brother! Cabba!” Lettu knocked hard on the bedroom’s door, the noise it made was so loud that made Cabba jump out of his bed.

Lettu never came to his room, at least not when Cabba is sleeping, and yet the little boy kept knocking on the door, passing the urgency of his voice even more to his brother. “It is open. You can enter, Lettu.”

After getting his brother consent, Lettu slammed the door open, rushing inside the room. “Mom is calling you.” The boy looked back to the way he came; the expression on his face was making Cabba very nervous.

“What is wrong Lettu?” Cabba asked.

“There are a lot of soldiers downstairs with mom and dad.” Lettu glanced back to his brother, unsure of what to do.

“Calm down, Lettu.” Cabba fondled his brother's hair. “I will get changed and then come down there.”

Lettu nodded just once with his head and then bolted out of the room, Cabba could hear his fast steps on the stairs and after his mother yelled to the boy not run on the stairs.

‘A lot of soldiers?’ Cabba grabbed a clean set of clothes from his closet. ‘I have a bad feeling about this.’  He changed the fastest he could, trampling all over the room when his pants got entangled on his legs. After a quick visit to the bathroom, Cabba came downstairs; his eyes glanced all over the place.

“Yo, Cabba.” A young Saiyan called him. “It has been some time since we saw each other, right?” This cheerful young man carries in his lips a wide and warm smile, he wears the same uniform that Cabba uses. His black hair is very silky and it stretches out in a long ponytail.  If was not for his deep voice, anyone could mistake him for a woman, since his skin is so smooth and his face is very delicate.

“Coorin?” Cabba’s eyes widened at the sight of the soldier.

“I am here too.” Another soldier called out as he stood up from his seat. Different from his partner, this one wears a white long-sleeved coat covering a dark black shirt, a pair of grey pants and leather boots with an iron tip on them. His hair is short and spiky, but it is somewhat very strange for a Saiyan, half of it is red, while the other half is black. He is tall and muscular, making Coorin, who is at his side, seem even more fragile.

“Janola too?” Cabba commented. “What are you guys doing here?”

“King Sadala called us. Actually, he called everyone from the elite back.” Coorin said. The smile on his face quickly faded away.

Cabba swallowed dry, he felt the room atmosphere turn tense and cold. “What happened?” He asked not even sure if he wanted to know. If every Saiyan of the elite is back, then something really bad is happening.

“The palace was attacked last night.” Janola’s voice was stern as ever, but it still drove chills to Cabba’s spine. “Whoever did that, also took the prince with them.”

“We believe that the prince was the target, the attack itself and the damage was just a consequence.” Coorin said.

Words escaped Cabba’s mind, he couldn’t process the information he just received. He stood there frozen in place, staring at the soldiers.

“Cabba? Are you okay?” Cabba’s mother walked to his side and grabbed his left arm.

“This doesn’t make sense, who would be crazy enough to attack the palace and to take Asparus is even worse.” He moved forward, getting very close to Janola. “How that happened? I mean, there are at least twenty soldiers at the palace all the time.”

“Don’t know.” Janola responded shrugging his shoulders.

“Too close.” Coorin put his hand in front of Cabba, making him back a few steps away from Janola. “We don’t know who or how, but we have to go, the king is awaiting and his mood is very bad right now.”

“That is why most of us came here to fetch you.” Beano’s head popped in from outside through the living room window.  After noticing his older friend outside of his house, he too noticed quite a few other soldiers along with Beano.

“Anyway, let’s get moving. After everyone is there assembled the king will pass the details to us.” Janola turned to the door and walked outside.

“Mother, I have to go.” With just a quick glance, back Cabba warned his mother and nodded his head to his father.

“Be safe, son.” His father walked to his wife and placed his right arm around her back, to reassure and calm the older woman.

“Don’t worry, Don’t worry.” Coorin said with a big smile. “I doubt it, but if anything happens we got Cabba’s back.” He lunged his arm around Cabba’s neck and started to pull the young Saiyan with him.

“Hey, stop… You are strangling me.” Protesting in his way outside, Cabba felt the tightening in his neck vanish when Janola grabbed Coorin by his shirt and pulled him away.

“Too close.” He smirked as he dropped the short soldier on the ground.

“I already told you to not grab me like that, you jerk.” Coorin straightened his shirt, giving death glares to his partner.

“Come on you two.” Beano interject. “Don’t start another fight; we have no time for that.”

“Fine, but this is not over yet. I am going to get you for this Janola.” Coorin took off, sticking his tongue to the tall soldier.

“Not if I get you first.” Janola took off following Coorin. Strangely enough, even with his cool demeanor, he always turns a bit childish around the short Saiyan.

“Seriously, is every elite soldier a weirdo?” Beano scratched his head.

‘I am elite too, you know.’ In another instance, Cabba would have complained right back at Beano, but he doesn’t have the time for that right now.  Asparus is missing and at this moment, this is the only thing that matters.

 

* * *

Asparus woke up, chained against a metal wall, his stomach still throbs with a fierce pain echoing in his side. As the thirsty hit him, he licked the inside of his mouth and the felt the taste of blood. ‘Where am I?’ he scanned the whole room with his eyes, but it is so dark that the only thing he could see was a worn down chair and the glint of the metal bars far ahead in the room.

“H-Hey, anyone ther-“ After raising his voice, the pain got even worse, making Asparus arch forward and gasping for air. “Dammit. Where am I?” The prince tried to pull his arms down, but the ice cold chains only wiggled in his efforts.

A soft knock on the metal bars, got Asparus attention, he noticed a shadowy figure staring at him, but with the almost non-illumination on the room, it was impossible to recognize who it was.

“Finally up and about, huh?” A very familiar and friendly voice reached to Asparus. With a clicking noise of the keys, the man opened the door and stepped inside, carrying with him some bandages and a bottle with a blue liquid.

“Cabba?” For a moment Asparus felt relieved, however, the events of last night are still very fresh on his mind. Kale attacked him, no, someone who looked exactly like Kale. “Who, What are you?”

The Cabba impersonator placed the bandages on the ground and smiled to Asparus in the same way Cabba does. “What? I thought you would like to see a friendly face, after waking up.” He pulled a small blue orb from behind him and changed his friendly smile into a devilish smirk. “Or maybe you like this one better?”

A blinding blue light erupted from inside the orb, forcing Asparus to close his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw Caulifla standing in front of him.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” She waved her index finger slowly in front of her lips.  “To lust after your friend’s girlfriend, what a naughty boy you are, prince Asparus.”

Asparus cringed back, hitting his head on the wall. “What do you want with me?” The way that this Caulifla is looking at him, her eyes pledging for attention, is making him very uncomfortable.

“Before with go down to business, why don’t we have a sideways fun?” She put one finger on her magenta top, threatening to pull it down.

Asparus shifted his head to the side, looking away from the girl. “Don’t you dare to take that off. You sick bastard.”

“Geez, you’re no fun at all.” The blue orb shined again, now changing Caulifla into Negi. He waited very eagerly to see the prince’s expression, but he was let down when Asparus acted as nothing happened. “You’re not surprised?” Negi commented.

“After you took out that stupid blue ball I knew who it was.” Asparus smirked at him. “So, are you working with that Freeza guy?”

“Something like that.” Negi confirmed without much thought. “We serve the same master, so at times I help Freeza.”

“Who is your master?” The prince asked, now sure that Negi would answer this too.

“Hey, give me some credits, man.” Negi slapped Asparus right arm. “I am not that stupid to just spill everything out.” He opened the glass bottle and reached his left hand to Asparus’s stomach. “I really did a number on you, didn’t I?” He laughed by himself. “Well, since you complied to my request of not dying, I will give you a reward. How that sounds?”

Asparus stared down, quietly watching as Negi poured the liquid on his hands. Suddenly Negi slapped, with force, both of his hands on the prince’s wound, making Asparus scream terribly in pain. “What…. What the hell was that?” He then shrieked even louder, his entire body started to burn from the inside like his flesh was on fire.

“Don’t be such a baby, is just some medicine.” Negi grabbed the bandages and wrapped around the part he applied the strange fluid. “After some time you will not have even a little scar, trust me on this.”

“Are you going to tell what you want or will keep playing the nice guy act?” Asparus wheezed in pain between his heavy breaths.

Negi released the chains holding Asparus, making the prince fall flat on the floor. “Directly to the point then.” He grabbed Asparus by the neck, lifting his head to look into his eyes. “I want you to join us, I want you to be my special puppet or if you prefer, my shining knight.”

With an unintentional snort, the prince shook his head. “First you attack me, then kidnap me, now you want me to join you?” He released a low and timid laugh. “You must be insane, there is no way I am going to join you freaks.”

“Know what? I was hoping you would say no.” Negi planted a punch on Asparus guts. “You see; I can be very persuasive when I want.” He landed another punch, now on the prince’s right cheek. “I have a lot of that medicine I just gave, so hurting you is not a problem to me.” He proceeded with two more punches. “And I really want to experiment on something else, so please, reject me some more.” Negi kicked Asparus straight on the head, sending him to the wall. “Ready, to say yes?” He asked, maliciously.

With a lot of effort, Asparus sat up again, blood coming out of his mouth and one of his eyes completely swollen. “Fuck you.” He coughed some blood and fell to the side again, placing one hand on his stomach, now burning up again.

“Doesn’t matter how much time it takes; I’m going to break you.” “Negi cracked his fists. “Hahah. Asparus boy, we are gonna have sooo much fun together.”

“There are way too many people in here… did they call all of Sadala?” Coorin complained as he squished his way through the massive number of soldiers inside the throne room.

“Want me to carry you in my back?” Janola tapped Coorin’s head, smirking at his own joke.

Coorin made an incredible effort to punch Janola’s side, moving his hands between the soldiers on at his side. “Shut up.”

“Can you guys keep it down?” Cabba slapped his forehead in frustration. “We’re far ahead enough that the king can see you two bickering all the time.” He noticed both the king and the queen looking their way. “He is even staring at us.”

“He is probably staring at Janola’s outfit.” Coorin pointed at his friend. “He is the only one that is not using the defense force uniform.”

“And I will never use that thing again.” Janola crossed his arms.

“Wow.” Coorin poked Cabba’s arm. “The queen really is pretty, right?” His voice was loud enough that most of the soldiers close to him stared at the small Saiyan. King Sadala only shook his head in disapproval, while the queen graced them with a half-warm smile.

“Coorin, for the love of the gods, just shut up before you kill us.” Cabba desperately squeezed Coorin’s left arm.

“Ouch, that hurt. Why are you doing that?” Coorin rubbed his arm and frowned at Cabba, but before he could do anything else, Janola wrapped his left arm around Coorin’s shoulder, pulling him close enough that he couldn’t do anything else. The smaller Saiyan glared at Janola, who only pointed with his head towards the king, standing up from the throne and walking closer to the soldiers.

“Now that you are all here, we can begin this meeting.” The king’s voice echoed through the room, silencing all the small chatter that was happening “Yesterday someone was stupid enough to attack Sadala’s royal palace.” He stopped for a second, carefully choosing his words. “Not only that, they dared to attack a member of the royal family. My son, your prince, was taken.” The silence was broken again, with whispers and gossips, the king clapped his hands together, bringing back all the attention to him. “We ran a very quick, but detailed, investigation and with that was discovered that no ship left Sadala from yesterday to this time.” He caressed his tired eyes with his fingers in a brief pause. “Whoever did this didn’t leave the planet. Therefore, we will search every corner of Sadala and find the culprits.”

“Your Majesty, please forgive my rudeness, but I have to ask.” Janola bowed his head right after getting the king’s attention. “Can I assume that we are all restricted to Sadala until this problem is solved?”

“That is a correct assumption.” Queen Arula interjected. “No one will leave Sadala until Asparus is found and the invaders captured.” Her usual soft voice turned in to a fierce and commanding one, making her even more intimidating than her husband.

“So if you have any plans to attend to, I recommend that you find him fast.” King Sadala continued from where she started.

Without another word, Janola bowed again, he glanced down at Coorin, who was looking at him with a sad and concerned expression. Janola just smiled and nodded his head quietly comforting his friend.

“Do whatever you need, but do this with extreme urgency; we don’t know what they want or how big of a threat they are.” The king walked down the steps to the throne and placed his hand on the shoulders of the closest soldiers he encountered. “You all are dismissed, for now. Go and do your mission. Make me proud once again, Defense Force of Sadala.” He turned his back on the soldiers and walked again towards the throne, but suddenly stopped on the first step. “And for the one that finds these criminals first… Show them no mercy.”

 

* * *

The trio walked together out of the palace, Cabba in the lead with Janola and a whinnying Coorin close behind. Cabba watched very closely every soldier that was exiting the building, his eyes never drifting away from the entrance.

“I can’t believe this.” Coorin threw his hands to the air. “We are stuck here now… We can’t go back.”

“It is just for a little time, just hold on for a while.” Janola noticed Cabba’s abstention of mind; he tapped his friend on the shoulder, trying to get his attention. “What is the matter, Cabba?”

Cabba turned his head a little to the side, but never took his eyes away from his previous view. “Something is bugging me… The king stated that everyone from the force was here, but…” He paused for a moment, moving his eyes to Janola’s direction. “I didn’t see him.”

“Didn’t see who?” Janola asked.

“Henkanegi. Someone annoyingly flashy as him, there is no way I would have not seen him.” After giving his answer, Cabba resumed his far inspection of the gateway.

“Henka-who?” Coorin jumped in. “Who is that?”

“Sorry, I forgot you guys were gone for so long.” Cabba started to explain. “Henkanegi is a new member of the elite. He is a difficult type to forget kind of person.”

“Troublemaker?” The bigger soldier asked.

“Something like that.” Cabba responded. “Always trying to show himself… One of the first things he said to me, is that he would be the new Ace of the Elite.”

Coorin scoffed at Cabba’s description of Negi. “Sheesh, what a clown.” He crossed his arms and smirked. “Even the two of us couldn’t beat you into that Ace position.”

Janola tensed up and coughed up in reaction. “I never fought for the title.” He straightened up the collar of his coat, slightly blushing.

“Hahaha, I know that you wanted to be Ace too, don’t need to play dumb.” Coorin slapped the back of his partner.

“Anyway, I think this is an appropriate time to bring that issue to him.” Janola changed the topic very fast and pointed it to Cabba.

“What issue?” Curiosity grabbed Cabba’s attention, making him leave his watch of the gateway.

“Caulifla.” Coorin said in a serious voice. “That is the name right?” He looked to Janola, who just nodded in confirmation.

Hearing the name of his girlfriend, made Cabba jolt back in apprehension. He knows that Caulifla always had issues with the Defense Force, but if the elite is now getting an interest in her, things could get complicated. “What… What issue?” Cabba said stumbling in his words. “I hope everything is alright… We don’t need another problem right now.”

“She is, now I quote half of the soldiers I asked: ‘The worse criminal of Sadala’.” Coorin studied Cabba’s reaction very closely.  “The prince went missing, someone attacked the palace. Just put the things together and you get my idea.”

“She is innocent; I give you my word on this.” Cabba jumped forward grabbing Coorin’s left shoulder. “Caulifla was her problems with the force, but she would never do something like this.”

“Being her boyfriend, your word is not very trusting is it now?” Coorin said back. “And-“

“Coorin, Enough.” Janola interrupted his partner. “Sorry, Cabba is just normal procedure. We have to search everywhere and she is just one person we will look into it…” He cut his words and smiled at Cabba. “That is what I have to say, but in truth, Coorin is just curious about your girlfriend, no need to get on your guard.”

“Whaaa- Don’t put that all on me, you jerk.” Coorin slapped the back of his partner once again. “You too want to meet the infamous Caulifla.”

All the tension on Cabba’s body disappeared, making him waver to the sides. “By the gods, don’t do that, guys. I almost had I heart attack.”

“Ah, don’t get so cocky just yet. We still need to interrogate her.” Coorin slid his way to Cabba’s side, hitting his elbow in the young Saiyan’s arm. “And if she proves to be dangerous we might arrest her.”

With a raised eyebrow, Cabba stared at his friend and then looked at the bigger one, who in response just shrugged off his shoulders.

 

* * *

Caulifla was training by herself close to her house when she noticed Cabba approaching from the sky. She started to run towards him but quickly noticed two other people flying right behind him, stopping in her tracks. She crossed her arms and waited for them to land.

“Er… Caulifla good day.” Cabba said blushing, for some reason he felt very conscious of the gazes his friends were giving them. “Those two are my friends Janola and Coorin, from back when we were just recruits.”

Caulifla tilted her head to the left, to get a better view of said friends.

“This is her?” Coorin asked.

“The only and one.” Cabba answered proudly.

Coorin’s shoulders fell down and his expression turned into a mix of frustration and annoyance. “I have to say, I am disappointed.” He gave Caulifla yet another judging stare. “I was expecting a giant woman or something of the sort, no this skinny ass girl.”

A vein popped on Caulifla’s forehead, she dashed forward grabbing Coorin’s shirt. “What the hell did you just said?”

“Skinny ass girl.” Coorin repeated in provocation.

In a bloodlust rage, Caulifla delivered a punch square on the short Saiyan's face. Coorin slid a couple of feet back, holding his head down. The furious Saiyan girl prepared to jump again at him, but Cabba appeared behind her, holding both of her arms.

“Yo Cabba, do you mind if I give a couple of knocks on your girlfriend’s head?” Lifting his head again, the short Saiyan's eyes are filled with anger and excitement.

“Huh?! Just try your luck, you shit head.” Caulifla yelled while fighting to escape Cabba’s grasp.

“Come on, you two just met…” Cabba struggled a lot to keep his girlfriend in place. “No… Need… to fight.”

Coorin dashed with extreme speed, holding his left arm read to strike Caulifla. Suddenly he felt his entire body come to a forced stop, his feet got out of the ground and two strong arms wrapped themselves around him. “Janola, what are you doing?” Coorin immediately started to kick the air, trying to escape.

“You promised to behave… this is not good behavior.” Janola effortlessly held his partner in place, keeping him from attacking Caulifla.

 “She started it!” Coorin yelled very loud.

“You started it, retard.” Caulifla yelled even louder.

“I bet you pardon Cabba, this one is my responsibility.” Janola gestured with his head a symbolic bow. “We will search in other places for the time being.” The big Saiyan turned his gaze to Caulifla making the same gestured as before. “Sorry for anything, lady Caulifla.”

“Sorry my ass, I can take on you too, light pole.” Getting even more mad, at Janola’s apologies, Caulifla wiggled even harder on Cabba’s arms.

“Arhhh, release me right now.” Coorin punched Janola’s arms. “Are you taking her side?”

With no reaction at all to the punches, the bigger Saiyan put his partner on the ground, but still held him very close, with that he started to push Coorin away with him. “I am not taking anyone’s side.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Hide behind your big boyfriend and flee.” Caulifla laughed angrily accompanying her taunts.

“Aaargh, I want to kill this bitch. LET ME GO.” Trembling in rage, Coorin drove his teeth on Janola’s right arm.

“Please… Stop biting me.” Worried only about the damage that is being done to his coat, Janola kept pushing his partner with him. He quickly made a far enough distance between them and Caulifla, that her angry shouts no longer reached them.

With the other soldiers making their leave, Caulifla slowly started to calm her nerves… or so Cabba thought.

“Why the hell did you bring those jerks here?” She yanked away right after Cabba released her arms.

“Well, they asked to meet you… and they are my friends, so I thought, Why not?” His explanation sounded much better on his mind.

“I don’t like them, especially that girly looking soldier.” She pouted crossing both arms. “Maaaan, I really don’t like soldiers from the defense force.”

Even when mad, Caulifla made Cabba smile with her reactions, the way she started to stomp on the ground on frustration was just too cute for him. With some effort, Cabba held his laugh to not aggravate even more her already bad mood. “They are from the Elite, just like me.” He said in a calm manner.

“Elite you say?” She wondered by herself for a minute. “Now I want to smash those two even more.”

‘But Janola didn’t even do anything.’ Cabba thought to himself, feeling sorry for his friend also getting some blame. “Like most Elites, they don’t spend much time on Sadala, so try to be nice to them, okay?”

“Yeah, right. Keep dreaming.” She snorted turning her head away. “What are they doing here then?”

Cabba took a deep breath, recollecting in his head everything he learned this morning. “The king called everyone back to Sadala… Something bad happened yesterday.”

“Like what?” She asked with very clear interest.

“The royal palace was attacked last night.” Cabba shook his head, disheartened.

“Hah! Someone gave the royal old fart a spook?” She smirked mischievously. “To bad for him.”

“They took Asparus.” A cold and harsh voice escaped Cabba’s lips; he closed his eyes, an unsettling feeling took place on his chest now that the information has finally settled on his head.

“Someone took him? Why?” She looked confused at him. “That I can’t let pass.”

Her words made Cabba let out a warm smile, even with all the fight between the two, Caulitla still showed some sort of affection towards Asparus. Behind all the trash talk and harsh personality, Caulifla still is a very caring and loving person, and every time he notices that just makes Cabba’s love for her increase each time.

“Have you told Kale yet?” Caulifla asked.

“No. I just got out of the meeting with the King.” Cabba rubbed the back of his head, knowing what will come next.

“Shit… That is going to suck.” Caulifla closed her eyes and imagined her friend’s saddened face when she hears this news.

“Will you come with me… to tell her?” Cabba grabbed her left hand, holding it very close to his face.

“That is obvious. She is my friend… and I own at least this much to Wimp.” She pulled Cabba by the hand and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Let’s go then.” Caulifla turned to leave, but to her surprise, she got pulled back by Cabba.

“I love you.” The soldier said out of the blue.

Caulifla smiled but responded to his word with a soft slap on his forehead. “This is not the time for flirting.” She released his hand and slowly started to fly away. ‘I love you too, dummy.’

 

* * *

“Heeey Kale!” With her friend’s house in view, Caulifla yelled loud enough to make Cabba cover her ears.

Kale who was sitting in front of her house, working on something inside of a dirty bag, glanced upwards, startled by Caulifla’s voice. She waved happily and stopped her chore before the other two landed on the ground.

“Good day, Kale.” Cabba greeted her.

She greeted him right back and nodded to Caulifla too.  She grabbed a piece of cloth from a chair behind her and started to wipe the ground’s dust off her hand.

Caulifla bent to the side, taking a look at the bag behind the other girl. “What are you doing?” Her curiosity like always quickly gets the better of her.

“I am helping dad with his work.” With a modest answer, Kale grabbed the bag and put it beside the front door.

“Your old man is here?” Caulifla asked, somewhat excited. “It has been some time since I saw him.”

 “No, he just left to finish a job.” Kale smiled. “But he will probably be returning soon.”

“Maybe I will wait around to see him.” Caulifla walked pass Kale, towards the door. “I will grab some water, my throat is killing me.” Like that, she excused herself inside the house.

“Hm… May I ask what are you two doing here?” Kale politely asked Cabba.

For some time Cabba himself had forgotten the reason for his visit, but her question reminded him very fast. He gulped his hesitation in and walked closer to Kale. “I think is best if you sit down, Kale.”

Confused at his request, the Saiyan girl reluctantly complied. She sat on the chair that was closer to her, still outside the house. Her eyes got big and freighted, her hands started to shake and her heartbeat pace increased very quickly. Cabba never talked to her in such a cautiously manner before, and the expression on his face was terrifying her.

Cabba rubbed his head, changing the focus of his eyes from Kale to the ground and then going back to her. “There is no easy way of saying this, but, I think that it is something that I need to tell you.”

With her cup of water in hand, Caulifla appeared at the door again. “The palace was attacked and the prince was taken.” Measuring no words, she dumped the information on Kale.

“What!?” Kale jumped out of the chair, her head bouncing between Cabba and Caulifla.

“Caulifla, why did you said it like that?” Cabba raised his voice at his girlfriend.

“It is better to just say it up front then keeping her in suspense.” Not minding the frown on Cabba’s forehead, she took a sip from her cup.

Kale held her hands together, staring at her feet. The subtle glimmering in her eyes quickly transformed into a river of tears. “Why would anyone attack him?” She asked desperately. “He did nothing wrong, he is a good person.” Her voice cracked and the flow of tears got worse, blurring her view.

“He is strong, you said yourself.” Cabba said with a comforting tone.  “He will hold on and we will find him.” The young soldier pulled her closer to a friendly embrace. “I promise you. I will find him.”

Caulifla’s eyes twitched at the scene, but she kept quiet just watching Cabba hug Kale, but her fingers kept impatiently tapping the doorframe.

“I have to go now.” Cabba gently pushed her away. “I have to look for Asparus too.” He glanced at Caulifla and shivered at her jealous gaze. “Ca-Caulifla… I think you should be with Kale for some time.” He said waving his hands, like explaining to her that it was just a friendly hug.

“You will be going where exactly?” Caulifla rolled her eyes to the side, feeling a bit silly for her reaction.

“I need to-“ Cabba was cut short when someone else pushed him aside.

“KALE! What happened, my girl?” Kale’s father rushed to her side, rubbing the tears in her face with his right hand.

“Dad... Asparus… He was...” She embraced her father, mustering her voice to speak only fragments of a sentence.

“It is okay now, I am here…” He patted her back, paying almost no attention to the other two Saiyans.

“I will be going now.” Cabba whispered to Caulifla.

“Come back safe to me, you hear?” She gave a light punch in his right arm. “Don’t you dare to go missing too.”

Cabba chuckled at the way she demonstrated her concern for him. “I will never go missing on you.” Giving her a soft pat on her head, Cabba took off into the sky. Leaving Kale crying in her father’s arms and Caulifla only staring at her.

 

* * *

“What do you think?” Coorin asked juggling a piece of shattered floor on his hands.

“The blast came from the inside direction… The attackers were probably very close to him.” Janola carefully walked around the hole in the balcony.

“Yeah, I thought the same… These invaders walked right over the security.” Coorin glanced towards the guards down in the pathway to the palace. “Traitors in the army?”

“We can’t assume anything yet, but it is a possibility.” Fixing his white coat, the soldier noticed someone walking over to them.

Greeno opened the door and nodded to the two soldiers. “This is the place.” He pointed to the ruined balcony, with three steps to the side; he made way for Cabba to enter.

Cabba stopped in surprise after seeing his friend, but he too nodded his head to them. After leading the young soldier to his destination, Greeno excused himself and closed the door behind him.

“Another elite coming to see the crime scene?” Coorin smirked.

“It is the best place to start an investigation.” Cabba replied.

“True enough.” Coorin said back.

“Have you guys found anything yet?” With a quick glance around Cabba tried to find any clues.

“Not much.” Said Janola. “We just got here too.” He crouched closer to the edge. “We assume that the target at least recognized the attackers.”

“Why would you assume that?”

“The blast came from where you are standing, more or less.” Coorin answered.

“So the invaders attacked while standing on the floor… They passed through security?” Holding a hand on his chin, Cabba pondered silently, until his eyes caught another detail. “Janola, look behind you, to the right.”

The bigger soldier complied, turning his body into the direction appointed by Cabba. He reached his hands to the ground, passing his fingers on a stained spot. “Blood?” He commented.

Coorin jumped down into the garden, landing to the side of the debris. “There is a lot more down here.” He lifted his hands up, showing the blood on his fingertips.

Janola gave a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes. “That makes things worse.”

Cabba jumped down to Coorin’s side, his body froze in place and his eyes stared at the red mess on the floor. “Dammit, that is way too much blood.” He clenched his fists in anger.

“It is not a very good kidnapping if they killed the prince on the spot.” Coorin’s words awarded him a death glare form Cabba. “Don’t take this on the wrong way, but, is the prince even alive at this point?”

“He is!” Cabba yelled. “We can’t be… dead. I have faith in him.”

“Sorry, it was a rude thing to say.” Coorin lowered his head in apology.

“No way!” Both Cabba and Coorin look behind them, startled by Janola’s shout. “Look at this.” He pointed to a few footsteps going away from the impact zone.

The marks continued in a straight line with bloodstains following beside it, after a certain point, both the footprints and the heavy line mark disappeared, with not even a single blood drop going pass it.

“It stopped here, but how?” Coorin kneeled down putting his face close to the ground. “Even if they flew away, it would leave some blood drops somewhere.”

“That is my thought.” Janola said. “To just disappear. Is something like this possible?”

‘Instant transmission?’ Cabba remembered about Goku’s ability to teleport anywhere, his master Vegeta somewhat complained about this annoying to deal with technique. ‘But can this be real; someone that possess the same skill as mister Goku, captured Asparus?’ His mental struggled stopped when Janola whistled to get Cabba’s attention.

“What are you thinking about?” The Saiyan with a white coat asked.

“N-Nothing important.” Cabba dismissed his idea, before getting things more complicated than they should be.

“Anyway, looking at the scene, from up there to down here. We can conclude that it was only one invader.” Janola walked back and forward between the landing zone and the spot where the trace ends. “And the prince is at least in critical condition.”

“So much for quickly resolving this.” Coorin snorted, kicking a pebble away.

“What do you mean?” Cabba raised an eyebrow at Coorin’s statement.

“If he can disappear or used a small vehicle to flee, then he can be anywhere in Sadala.” The smaller Saiyan crossed his arms. “Or the more realistic assumption is that they are not even on the planet anymore.”

“This is getting complicated and dangerous.” Janola complained, resting his back on the wall.

“Dammit… Dammit, who the hell did this?” Cabba punched a stone pillar close to him, taking out a chunk of it. “Asparus… where are you?”

* * *

 

 


	11. Chapter 10 - A Special Gift to You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z/Super/GT) or its characters.

* * *

 

Cabba sat outside his house, resting his back against the wall. His breath is sluggish and hasty, sweat drips from his chin, he feels truly exhausted, both physically and mentally. For the past week and a half, he searched for his friend, looked at every corner of the planet and shook every criminal or shady person on Sadala, yet he found nothing about Asparus.

The blockage of the planet soon was called off, the king couldn’t hold the entire defense force back on Sadala since he first gave that order, the number of criminals on the galaxy raised incredibly up. After the fifth day, he slowly started to send the soldiers away to deal with the newly arisen problem.

From the returned elite soldiers, only a few stayed back on the planet, Janola and Coorin stayed by Cabba’s request, much to aggravate Coorin’s complaints. Both spend most of their time spectating every distress call that came to Sadala, in search of any leads of their missing prince.

Of all his years as a soldier, this is the first time that Cabba felt completely useless. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t put together the pieces of the puzzle of Sadala’s prince kidnap. No ransom or requests, not even a single sign of demands. Why would anyone go through the trouble of capturing Asparus, if they don’t want anything from it?

‘Master… What would you do in my place?’ Cabba silently pondered by himself.

The front door of the house opened with it the voices from inside became louder, only to be muzzled again after Caulifla closed the door behind her. “Cabba…” She sat beside him, resting her left cheek on her crossed arms on top of her knees. “Didn’t find anything again?”

“Not even a trace.” Cabba kept looking at his hands, clenching his fists in anger. “What do I do now?” He turned his head to Caulifla, his eyes trembling, his voice cracking.

“I don’t know… No one knows.” Caulifla stared at Cabba, she bit her lips, not understanding if she feels anger or sadness at the pity sight that is Cabba now. “But, no matter what you do, I am here for you.”

He bent over to the side, resting his head on her shoulder. “I have only met him for a less than a month, and yet, I feel like he is my closest friend…” Cabba took his left hand up, grabbing Caulifla’s right one. “Seems weird, right?”

“I don’t think so.” She smirked and tightened the hold of their hands. “It took me a really short time too, to realize that I love you. When comes down to feelings, no one can explain how it works, it just works.”

The young soldier caught himself lost at words; he almost couldn’t believe that it was Caulifla who just said that. “I am glad to have you with me, Caulifla.”

“That is a given.” She laughed cheerfully, in the way that only she can. “So, are you gonna just sit here and give up?”

“I will never give up!” Cabba jolted away from her. “He needs help and I have to help him.”

“Then stop moping outside of your house and start looking again.” She punched the side of his left arm. “Show me that spirit that made me fall in love with you.”

“I…” He stared at her fiery eyes and felt ashamed of himself. ‘What I am doing here?’ Cabba slapped his face, leaving a red mark on it. “Thank you, Caulifla.” Cabba stood up and extended his hands to his girlfriend. “I will continue to look for him, but not now. Doing it in the darkness will not help.”

“Then, when tomorrow comes, I will help you.” She grabbed his hand and stood up. “Now let’s get inside before Lettu jumps out of the window looking for you.

“Haha, sure.” In the midst of his laugh, Cabba caught in the corner of his eyes, a very familiar hair creeping out from the living room window. “I can’t believe he is actually trying to jump out of the window.”

“I kinda told him to do it.” Caulifla smiled innocently.

“You are a very bad influence on him.” Cabba ran towards the windows, hitting softly on Lettu’s head. “And you get down of that window.” He scolded his brother, but he also had a hard time trying to hide an amused smile from his mouth.

 

* * *

 

“Still nothing?” Negi asked, his face is contorted in pain as he holds his broken left arm.

“I am afraid not.” From the shadows came forward a small red alien, holding in his hands a set of red orbs. “His mind is so hard to break in, and every time he snaps and tries to break free.”

Negi gave a long sigh; he chugged down a bottle of the strange blue fluid. His body twitched in pain but quickly healed fully back, without a single wound to show. “Haha… HAHAHAHAHA, HE IS PERFECT!” The Saiyan imposter tossed the empty bottle away, smashing it on the wall. “It will be worth, Seigyro.”

The red alien looked distraught; he then turned his head back to the path he just came from. He could hear a very low voice coming from down the hallway, Asparus cursing shouts sounded more like whispers with this must distance between them. “Are you sure?” Seigyro asked. “The way this boy defies my power is just like-“

“Just like Ghill!” Negi interrupted his friend. “Exactly, he is just like Ghill.” He walked forward putting one hand on the hallway entrance. “He maybe can be even more than that monster.”

Seigyro jumped back, a cold sweat ran on his forehead, his lips trembled before the words could escape them. “Y-You don’t mean to…”

“Do you think that Asparus can?” Negi’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“He can be as stubborn as Ghill, but, that doesn’t mean that they are equal.” Seigyro fell to his knees just from imagining what would happen if word of this reached someone else.

“You don’t know these Saiyans as I do.” Negi approached the smaller alien, placing one hand on his left shoulder. “The more they suffer, the more they get beaten, the more you try to kill them… The stronger they get.”

“This is madness Negi, you will kill both of us.” Seigyro grabbed Negi’s hand, almost pleading with his eyes.

“Look how much he has improved, I can’t even take on the guy anymore and he was weak as a leaf before I worked on him every day.” Negi yelled, startling his friend. “I know that he can kill Ghill, I have this feeling ever since I saw his silver ki.” He grabbed both arms crossing them in front of his chest. “I prefer to gamble on this than live forever in fear of that guy.”

Seigyro stood up, after seeing this outburst of emotion from his friend; he understood how serious Negi is about this. “Even if he could kill Ghill, how would you make them fight?” He asked with a calmer voice. “I can’t control this Saiyan, his mind still hold strong.”

Negi’s lips curled in a malicious smile, the shades bellow his eyes grew together with his evil intent. “Asparus has been such a delightful guest, that he deserves a present.” He grabbed one of the red orb from Seigyro’s hands. “And this present will surely break the little prince’s mind… Into little pieces.”

“What will you do with that?” The red one asked.

“Right now? Nothing.” He put away the orb on his pants back pocket. “Send me to Sadala, is time for me to pay a visit to a lovely lady.”

 

* * *

 

“Boring…” Coorin kept turning in his mobile chair, his eyes rolled back in desperation of his current situation. “How many are there?” He asked.

“Quite a few still. And if you keep quiet, I will be able to finish it faster.” Janola stared at his partner, he is already used to the childish behavior of Coorin, but after a couple of hours of incessant nagging, the soldier is starting to get annoyed.

After ordering the other members of the security staff to leave, only the two elite soldiers remained at the communication center room. A spacious room, now filled with empty chairs and messy desks. Coorin started to listen to all the calls together with Janola, but he gave up after a few minutes of only hearing the usual distress calls.

“Heeeey, Janola… Amuse me, I am bored.” Coorin poked his partner back with his foot.

“Coorin, will you fucking shut up?” Janola snapped in anger, veins popping on his forehead. “Oh, wait!”

“What?! Anything good?” Coorin jumped out of his chair.

“This is impossible…” Janola’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Listen to this!” He placed a spare headphone on Coorin’s head.

‘ _I…. Repeat…. Pink Monsters… Destroyed… Don’t know…. On Earth_.’ The call itself was nothing more than static noises and a few recognizable words.

“Wait, Earth?” Coorin surprised glanced to Jalona. “Wasn’t that place dead?”

Janola nodded his head, but also closed one eye in observation. “I have read that it was restored somehow by the seventh universe’s God of Destruction.” He tapped the disks on the table. “But they never reached out for help before, at least not that I know. So why now?”

“Pink monsters huh…” Coorin held his chin with his left hand. “Like the ones in Cabba’s report, maybe?”

“It is a good assumption.” Janola hummed in agreement.

“It is worth checking it out, even if it is a small chance.” The smaller Saiyan grabbed his partner by the neck, pulling him out of the chair. “Let’s go check this information and leave this place already.”

Janola wrapped his right arm around Coorin’s chest, lifting him up like a luggage bag. “Yeah, good idea.”

“Put me down, your giant.” Coorin hissed in fury, flailing his arms around like a crazy cat.

Janola ignored his partner shouts and held him even tighter. “You started, now endure it.”

Both left the room with Janola still holding the other one in his arm, everyone that saw the ridiculous scene, laughed or tried to hold the laugh in, making Coorin blush in a red mixture of embarrassment and uncontrollable rage.

 

* * *

 

The morning came with chilling winds, the sun is still barely visible with only its tip raising above the mountains. Waking early as the birds, Kale is already outside, wearing a dark pink battered coat on top of her usual clothes. Day by day, she started to help her father even more with his work, in an attempt to distract herself from her sadness.

“Are the seeds ready?” Kale’s father asked.

Kale nodded in response, lifting with her hand a little dirty bag.

Feeling the chilly air of the morning, he rubbed his arms while walking slowly towards his daughter. “You have already helped me plenty Kale.” He grabbed the small bag and smiled in a comforting way. “You should be out there with your friends, looking for him.”

“B-But…” Kale bit her lower lip. She wanted to be looking for Asparus, but where should she look. He is a prince; the entire defense force is looking for him. What could she do that they cannot?

“At least go take some rest, I will go and plant these.” He grabbed another three small bags from a box close to the entrance. “It will do no good for you to hold feelings inside, especially when is something that is making you sad.”

“I am fine now, dad.” Hesitant in her response, Kale is not too sure of what is fine means right now.

“Still, talk to someone.” He turned to her and kissed Kale’s forehead. “If you don’t want to talk to a friend, we can talk when I come back.” Saying that Kale’s father left, leaving her lost in thoughts outside their house.

 Hiding behind the wall, someone watched the whole scene without making its presence known. Taking careful and silent steps, she walked to an unaware Kale and jumped at her back, wrapping both arms around her neck.

Kale yelped startled by the sudden contact, she looked to the side only to get a glimpse of a black spiky hair resting on her shoulder.

“Did I surprised you?” With a wide and bright smirk, Caulifla asked with a playful voice.

“S-Sis, what are you doing here?” Kale said back.

“Just checking up on you, like always.” Caulfila let go of Kale and walked to stand in front of her. “Wanna talk?” Her expression changed to a more serious one. “I heard your talk with your old man. If you want to talk, I am here for you.”

Kale stared at her friend, not certain of what to talk about, but deep in her heart, something was screaming at her, yelling and pleading to Kale talk with Caulifla. “Hum…” She tried to come up with something but hesitated.

“What?” Caulifla crossed her arms, frowning at Kale. “You don’t trust me?” Her words hit very her on Kale.

“I-I do! Of course, I do.” Kale desperately waved her arms.

“Then talk to me, what is it?” Caulifla pressed on, getting even closer to Kale.

The shy Saiyan girl looked uncomfortable at the lack of personal space, but she didn’t backed away. “Am I strong?” Kale asked.

Caulifla took two steps back and tilted her head to the right, her face showing a confused expression. “What kind of question is that?” Caulifla laughed softly. “That is what is bugging you? Of course, you are strong. You can beat anyone if you put your mind into it.” She gave three quick taps on Kale’s back.

“N-Not like that…” Kale blushed and shook her head. “I mean… I always wanted to be strong like you.” Kale stared down at her own feet. “To take anything head on and not be scared by anything… I want to be like that.”

Caulifla only stared at Kale, not saying a word back.

“But now.” Kale continued. “I have to be strong, not just for me…. I know that he will come back and when he does, I have to be there to hold his hand and tell him that everything is all right.” She looked up to Caulifla, her eyes glittering and her lips shaking. “But the more I think about it, more scared I get... Why is he not back yet?”

Caulifla ran her right hand on her hair; she took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “So this is about Asparus, huh?” She placed one hand on Kale’s shoulder. “Look, that punk is way too annoying, he will not kick the bucket that easily.”

Noticing Caulifla saying his name, made Kale laughed a bit, she wiped the forming tears of her eyes and smiled to Caulifla.

“And when he comes back, just give him some kisses and whatnot. That is sure to lift his spirits.” The spiked haired girl started to imitate kisses noises with her mouth, making Kale laugh even more.

“Oh, Caulifla and Kale, Good morning.” Cabba landed next to the girls, holding in his hands a couple of papers.

“Good morning.” Kale nodded at him.

“CABBA!” Caulifla jumped onto him. “Nice timing.”

“W-what?!” Cabba jolted back but was unable to free himself from her grasp. “Timing for what?”

“I was just about to show Kale about the kisses and the whatnot.”  Her eyes sparkled with a mischievous intention. “Come here.”

“Wait-.” A quick kiss sealed Cabba’s lips; he burned bright red in embarrassment. He pulled back, separating himself from Caulifla. “What are you doing? Kale is right here.”

“What is all the fuss about?” Caulifla jumped on him again. “We still have the whatnot to show her.”

“Stop with this. I will not show any ‘whatnot’ to her.” Cabba squirmed around on Caulifla’s arms, fighting desperately to escape the situation.

Kale stood there, hiding her eyes with her hands, but she couldn’t control her laughs. She then felt a couple of tears escape her eyes, but this time it was not tears of sadness, instead, they are tears of happiness. She felt so calm and glad that Caulifla and Cabba are here with her. Being with them is so reassuring, that Kale almost forgot her worries, only trusting that with them, she will definitely be able to see Asparus again.

 

* * *

“I am fine, I told you that.” King Sadala sat on the side of his bed.

“And I told you to lay down and rest.” Queen Arula pushed him down, forcing him to lay on the bed once again. “Even you will collapse if you don’t sleep in a week.”

The king sighed heavily; he rubbed his tired eyes forcing himself to stay awake. “It was just a little dizziness, I am not that tired.”

“Stay down!” Arula’s voice echoed in the room, making her husband flinch. “And that is not up to discussion.”

“Arula, please… I have a lot of work to do right now.” The king placed his right hand on top of hers, caressing it slowly.

“Don’t even think about it, just sleep for you today.” She pinched his arm, smirking childishly to her husband.

“What about Asparus?” Changing to a very serious tone, he rubbed his eyes again, trying to rub away the tiredness from him to no avail. “Should I just lay on the bed, while he still is missing?”

“Yes, you should.” She said with a bit of desperation on her voice. “Think about me, I am already at my limit with Asparus missing, what will I do if you collapse again?” Arula laid down beside him, hugging his body with her arm. “Please, just get some rest. I will handle everything else for you.”

The king hugged her back, resting her head on his chest. “I have been thinking if we should have another child.”

The queen stiffened on his arms, she glanced up, looking at him in the eyes. “Where that came from?” She laughed but blushed slightly.

“Well, I do think about things like that.” He said very seriously.

“You do, huh?” Arula giggled happily. “Hm… I think it is an excellent idea. A little brother or sister, for Asparus to play with.”

 “He doesn’t have time to play, he needs to learn how to be a king.” His voice changing again to his royal persona. “At his age, I was already taking most of my father’s responsibilities.”

“Shhhh!” The queen pressed one finger on his lips. “Everyone has time to play, even you.” She kissed him passionately, making the king relax back to his normal self. “But not now, we can play later when Asparus is back.”

Someone knocked fast and loud on the door, caught the attention of both Saiyans. The king sighed again, separating himself from his wife. “You may enter.” He said, composing himself to a better look.

“I beg your pardon for this interruption, your majesty.” Greeno opened the door, his eyes wide and frantic, following the rhythm of his breath. “It appears that we got information on prince Asparus.” The soldier shuffled his fingers impatiently.

The king posed himself to get up, but a firm hand stopped him, holding him down.

“I will check it, you stay here.” The queen said in a very imposing way. “What it is Greeno?”

“Follow me, your highness. A soldier says that he has found the prince.” Not being able to control his feet, the soldier quickly walked out of the room with Arula closely following him.

“Who is this soldier? How he was able to found Asparus?” The queen asked suspiciously, but holding her hopes high.

“He is reliable, a member of the elite.” Greeno responded. “He insisted of only talking with the royal family about this, so I don’t know any more than this.”

Both quickly entered the throne room, a small number of soldiers is gathered here, after getting a word of the news. Cabba stands in front of them, right in front of the stairs to the throne.  The young soldier grabbed his left arm, hissing quietly in pain.

“It was passed to me that you have found Asparus.” Arula spared not even a second before walking towards Cabba. “Where is he? Why haven’t you brought him back?”

Cabba jumped back in surprise of the intensity of the queen. “I couldn’t get to him… it is complicated.” He shuffled something in his back pocket. “Sorry to ask, your highness. But where is the king?”

Arula frowned and stared angrily at Cabba. “He is indisposed; I stand here at his behalf.” She walked back up the stairs, sitting on the throne. “So you can relay everything to me. If that is not a problem, of course.”

“N-No, not a problem, my queen.” Cabba’s lips curved slightly in a smirk. “It is perfect just like this.”

“So, where is Asparus? Where is my son?”The Queen asked.

“Wait a minute, please.” Cabba searched his back pocket, taking a red orb out of it. “Can you hold this?” He tossed the little orb to Greeno, who grabbed it on the air. “Well, Asparus is being held on Freeza’s large spaceship stationed on Earth.” Cabba said crossing his arms.

“Freeza?” Arula glanced at Greeno. “The criminal of those several reports?”

“Exactly that one, your highness.” Greeno nodded, but he quickly glanced back to the orb on his hand.

“Such troublesome character this Freeza.” She rubbed her eyes. “Your name is Cabba, right?”

“Yes, that is me.” Cabba smiled.

“Cabba, how did you track Asparus? I am very curious to know that.” The queen leaned in on the throne.

“That is very simple, simple as it gets.” The young soldier raised his chest up. He took one hand to his head, rubbing his hair. “The thing is… You see. I was the one who kidnapped the prince.” Cabba held his right arm up, a yellow colored stream of energy shoot from his hand traveling in a blinding speed towards the throne.

Arula’s eyes widened in surprise, she jumped out of her seat, barely dodging the ki blast. Cabba disappeared from her sight and quickly reappeared behind her. With a fast swing of his left arm, the young soldier tackled the queen down to the ground; he followed it with a quick succession of small ki blasts.

Greeno jumped at the fight, he threw a fast punch at Cabba, but his strike flew past his target. “What the hell are you doing?” He grabbed Cabba by his shirt, pulling him to the ground.

Cabba smashed his fist on Greeno’s stomach, making the older soldier groan in pain. “Thank you for holding my orb, but I will take it now.” Cabba pulled the small red orb from Greeno’s hand and threw another ki blast at him, sending the soldier clashing to a pillar far behind them.

The other soldiers witnessing everything were paralyzed for a few minutes, not understanding the situation occurring right in front of them. However, after the shock has passed all of them joined the battle, attacking Cabba at the same time. Without much effort the elite ace dodged all attempts to attack him, he then grabbed a soldier by the arm and spun him around, hitting three other soldiers with the man.

“Come on, is that all that you guys can do?” Cabba smirked, cracking his fists. “I am just starting.” He dashed towards the remaining standing soldiers, hitting one directly on his face with an elbow, then proceeded to turn his entire body in a sweep kick, hitting another one on the back. Two others jumped at his blind spot, hitting a couple of strikes on his back. Like it was nothing Cabba grabbed the head of one soldier and crashed him into the ground, he lifted the unconscious body and threw at the other one. Panicking, the soldier grabbed his companion, but in that moment of distraction, Cabba released a powerful energy beam, sending both through the wall.

The loud noises made by the battle got the attention of other soldiers, and various voices started to appear from outside the hall. “Well then, that is enough commotion.” Cabba juggled the orb on his hands, walking towards the hole where the queen is stuck.

Arula climbed her way out of the hole, blood stains started to dirty her clothes as wounds were opening on her skin. “W-What are you doing?” With a death glare, she stood up once again, getting in front of Cabba, towering in size compared to him.

“Wow, so scary.” The young soldier giggled. “We don’t have much time here. So say something nice to the pretty ball, okay?” He lifted the red orb to her.

She just stared at him, clenching her fist, but without the strength to attack him.

“Come on, don’t you want to say something to little Asparus?” He dangled the orb in front of her. “He is watching, say something.”

The last bit, made her glance at the orb. She forced her eyes to look closer to it, searching for something or someone. “I…” Her lips trembled and her eyes glittered.  “I am here for you, son.”

A thundering sound echoed inside the hall, as a bright white light stormed from Cabba’s hand, it quickly hit the queen, opening a wide and big hole on her chest. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better than that.” Arula fell to the ground; the silence took control of the place, a lot of blood started to escape her body, drenching the steps to the throne in red color.

“…What… What have you done?” Greeno kneeled on the first steps to the throne, his eyes red in anger and his face slowly being taken by the tears.

Cabba smirked to him, stuffing the orb back on his pocket. He walked slowly and in a very taunting way the steps down to Greeno. “Just one needs to die today, so rejoice at this chance of continuing living.” The young soldier arched his right leg back, and then with incredible speed, he delivered a kick on the soldier’s head, sending him flying to the wall. “I am so merciful, it scares me.”

The young soldier scanned the room with his eyes, looking at every soldier he has beaten; he whistled in contentment and jumped a few feet forward. “I am done here, bring me back.” Soon as he has spoken a bright red light engulfed him, twisting the space and the ground below him, a moment after Cabba was gone, leaving behind a destroyed throne, various unconscious soldiers and the body of queen Alura lying dead on the highest step of the stairs.

 

* * *

 

Asparus sat on the floor, leaning his back on the wall, the chains still hold his arms up, the only times he gets to relax his arms is when Negi or the red alien shows up, to mess up with him. The prince is on the verge of losing his mind, every day they show up trying to get in his head and when they can’t, they start to beat him up. Asparus softly hit the back of the head on the wall; he smirked to himself after remembering their last attempting of breaking him. “I wonder if I broke his arm when he tried to chain me up again.” The shy smirk turned to a full smile.

The sound of a click announced the presence of someone entering his cell. “What are you smiling for?” Caulifla entered the room, with a provocative expression on her face.

Asparus clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Why do you always come here with her face on?”

The prince complains made her laugh. “I know that you want me, well, her. But it is the face that counts.” She walked to him and kneeled in front of him. “So, why are you smiling?” She caressed his face with her left fingers.

Asparus shook his head to the sides, taking her hand away from him. “Yeah, I am in a very good mood, today I had the chance to break the arm of a douche, it was awesome.” Asparus glared at Caulifla, carrying a confident smirk on his lips.

“Awnnn, you break my heart.” She pressed her chest with both hands. “But I am glad that you are in a good mood. I have a gift for you.” She reached her pockets, taking in her hand the blue orb. “But first, let stop flirting for a while.” Negi turned back to his usual Saiyan form and sit on the ground in front of Asparus. “Look at this.” He grabbed another orb, this one bright red, shining with a strange light.

“Trying to get on my head again?” Asparus hissed, taking his eyes away from the orb.

“Calm down, this one is a bit different.” Negi stood up and loosened a bit the hold of Asparus chains.

The prince jolted at the sensation of having freedom of his arms back again, he jumped up trying to catch Negi’s neck, the sudden attack made the Saiyan impostor jump back, startled.

“You insane prick, I almost had a heart attack.” Negi giggled nervously, recovering his composure from the scare. “Where that good mood went to?”

“Let me get closer and I will show you how happy I am.” The metallic sounds of the chains become more intense, with the effort that Asparus is putting to move his arms forward.

“Take this.” Negi threw the red orb to Asparus, who in reflex grabbed it without thinking. “And don’t break it or you will miss the message that was so troublesome for me to get.”

Asparus squeezed the little ball in his hand, almost immediately breaking it. ‘Freeza?’ Arula’s voice came from the orb, it was very low and quiet, but was enough to catch the prince’s attention. He held the orb closer to his face, staring at the light coming from it; slowly a vision began to form in front of his eyes, a very lucid and real vision of the throne room of Sadala.

“What is this?” Asparus asked, never taking his eyes away from the orb.

“This, my friend, is my gift for you.” Negi smiled. “I went to Sadala just a while ago and recorded in this orb my recent adventure there.”

Without pause, the recorded events unfolded in front of Asparus eyes, with his whole body shaking in fear, the only part of him remaining firm is his sight. He hopelessly prayed for any soldier to hit Negi, transformed into Cabba. He desperately moved his own body trying to enter in the way of Negi strikes, but he could only watch as the impostor wreak havoc on the palace.

“Oh, boy. This is the best part.” Negi clapped his hands in enjoyment.

‘ _Come on, don’t you want to say something to little Asparus?_ ’ Asparus trembled at the malicious intent carried by ‘Cabba’s’ voice in the vision. He stared at the vision of his injured mother, standing proudly in front of the imposter. ‘I…’ Arula’s voice wavered, but the sweetness of her motherly side briefly showed up on her face.

“Don’t do it…” Asparus quietly pleaded, his lips quivering in despair.

‘ _I am here for you, son_.’ Her words resonate inside him, making the prince smile, but the vision continued, taking away from him any comfort in his heart.

Negi started to claps his hands, fast and vigorously. “Bravo! That was splendid.” He walked forward, stopping a few steps from the prince. “What do you think? That was a very good performance, right?”

There was no response; Asparus kept holding his head low staring at nothing. His whole body trembles and twitches at random. “Mom…” He whispered softly to himself, as the tears slowly started to run down on his face.

“Lost for words?” Negi asked. “I know how that feels, but you gotta give me something, it was not easy to pull that off.” He walked forward again, knocking a couple of times on Asparus’s head.

The chains stuck on the wall started to bend to the side, making a screeching noise as it began to break. Asparus moved his arms down with so much strength that veins popped on his skin, the metal chains getting more and more forced at its limits, are starting to crack.

Henkanegi walked back, staring at the Saiyan prince. He felt his whole body freeze when Asparus looked at him, the color of his eyes completely gone and his mouth gritting with rage strong enough to melt anyone into nothing.

 Golden flashes of light started to flicker around Asparus, sending waves of energy at all sides. “GGRRRAAAAAAHHH!!” Roaring with a thundering voice, Asparus broke the chains, taking the entire wall down with it. An explosive golden aura expanded from his body, swallowing everything. Nothing more could be seen, no more Asparus, no more Henkanegi, or the metallic walls of the cell. Now only the golden light remains.

 

* * *

Caulifla, Cabba, and Kale walked together on the streets of the capital. After exhausting their ideas of what to do, they decided that the best thing was to check the place with most people to get any leads.

“Where are those aggravating friends of yours when we need them?” Caulifla said, clicking her tongue.

“Coorin and Janola?” Cabba looked at her, who nodded back to him. “I remember them saying something about staying in the main building of the force.”

“You said once that they are good in tracking people down. Why don’t we pay them a visit?” Holding both arms behind her head, Caulifla stopped and turned to Cabba.

“You want to go the Defense Force building? You of all people?” Cabba laughed nervously, he has a bad feeling of what she can end up doing in there.

“M-Maybe is not a good idea, Sis.” Kale interjected in, having the same bad feeling as Cabba. Kale before leaving her house switched back to her usual clothes, without the long pink coat.

“What is up with you two?” Their reaction, made Caulifla raise an eyebrow. “They just need to don’t get on my nerves and nobody gets hurt.”

“Hahah, yeah… We are definitely not going there.” Cabba shook his head imagining the damage Caulifla would do on the place.

“You…” The three young Saiyans got startled when a voice came from behind them. “I found you.” Beano appeared from behind a wall.

“Mister Beano, are you okay?” Cabba noticed the red eyes of his senior and his disarranged breath.

“Cabba…” The older soldier said in a harsh voice, not showing his usual carefree attitude. “I need you to come with me.”

“What for?” Caulifla walked forward, passing Cabba and getting right at on Beano’s face.

“Cabba, you stand accused of having killed my sister… our Queen, Arula.” The soldier tackled Caulifla to the side, posing himself in front of Cabba. “I need you to come with me, NOW!”

* * *

 

 


End file.
